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.A. 


Chance Marriage. 


From the French of Emile Gaboriau, 

W 


BY 


VINCENZO CALFA, 


Translator of Michelet’s “Bible of Humanity.” 




ONE HUNDRED COPIES PRINTED. 


No . 100 . 


TO 

HENRIETTA BACH, 

THE ACCOMPLISHED WIFE 
OF THE 

CHEVALIER PIETRO CENTEMERI, 

THIS TRANSLATION 

IS 

RESPEC TFULLY INSCRIBED 
BY 

VINCENZO CALFA. 


COPYRIGHT BY 

VINCENZO CALF A, 
DECEMBER 
1878. 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


CHAPTER I. 

Why Pascal Divorne handed in his resig- 
nation within fifteen days after his depart- 
ure from the School of Civil Engineers, of 
which he was one of the most promising 
pupils, no one ever knew. 

He did not take the trouble to explain, nor 
did he give any reasons for his action, prob- 
ably because he had none to give. By this I 
mean satisfactory reasons, based on a certain 
personal interest or a prudent self-love, such 
in fact as would be admissible and conclu- 
sive to judges of a paying business. 

The opportunities for him to declare the 
truth, or to equivocate, were not wanting. 
All his distant relatives in Paris as well as 
his acquaintances, skillfully sounded him. 
They hoped to discover some secret or per- 
haps some little scandal, and this was very 


6 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


tempting. But he was cruel enough to de- 
ceive these worthy inquisitors, who excuse 
their intermeddling in the affairs of others, 
by assigning the eternal and hackneyed 
pretext of a tender interest which is never 
felt. He laughed at these persons so 
obliging, always ready to open their hearts 
in confidence and their mouths in good 
counsel, hut who never open their purses 
when their assistance is needed. 

Some of them were very persistent. These 
Pascal took aside, and, after glancing about 
with the look of a restless conspirator, mys- 
teriously, and in a very low whisper, pro- 
nounced the significant word — “politics” — 
although he had never in his life given any 
attention to the subject. This expedient 
succeeded; for these troublesome persons fled 
affrighted, imagining that they already saw 
the prison of Mont Saint Michel opened 
to receive them. 

Their fruitless attacks were abandoned 
and Pascal was left to his tranquillity, but 
not without their declaration that he was 
not a very social young man, that he was 
destitute of candor, and that . it would be 
prudent to be guarded against him so long 
as he held his extreme opinions. 

His particular friends were still left to him, 
and to them he made the simple statement 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE, 


7 


that, although a Frenchman and a very good 
Frenchman, he detested all kinds of uni- 
forms, even if they were more adorned than 
a shrine; that governmental employment 
was not adapted to his taste, that the un- 
certain chances of fortune appeared more 
desirable to him than any fixed appointment, 
small or great, deserved or not; in a word, 
that his own independence was a thousand 
times more precious to him than all the hon- 
ors of the administration, even than the 
portfolio of the prime minister. 

His friends were naturally indifferent to 
the motive of his actions. It was of no im- 
portance to them whether he did one thing 
or another. They unanimously declared that 
his utterances were wise, and that his course 
was the right one. Only one boldly censured 
the young engineer, and in a patronizing tone 
reproached him for his precipitate impru- 
dence. This was the bosom friend of Pascal, 
his confidant, his chum at the college of 
Henry IV. They had pursued their studies 
together and were afterwards inseparable. 

This fidus Achates , transformed into a 
Mentor, was named Eugene Lorilleux. He 
was two or three years older than Pascal. 
About eighteen months previous to this, he 
had received a diploma as “Doctor of Medi- 
cine,” and was now looking with some anx- 


8 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


iety for patients. 

He was still at the beginning of a profes- 
sion which, above all others, is difficult and 
precarious. He had a few patients, but they 
were of a class that paid little or nothing. 
These sick people inhabited garrets, wretch- 
ed holes. In order to prescribe for them he 
had to go up four or five flights. He had 
gratuitous and paying consultations, but 
since only the poor called on him, he con- 
cluded that it was useless to keep up the dis- 
tinction. He, however, had patience, and 
waited for the ‘‘moment that leads to for- 
tune, which” as it is said “comes three times 
in the life of every man,” and which each 
should be ready to seize upon when it comes. 

A painstaking student, he relied on his 
scientific attainments and his talents to ac- 
quire reputation and fortune. In this he was, 
and continued to be, deceived. That he was 
learned was incontestable; but he was defi- 
cient in perception, in insinuating manners, 
in audacity. In his study he was self-reli- 
ant and most tenacious of his theories, but 
at the bedside of his patients he had not 
that quick insight into disease, that divining 
sense, that instant inspiration, which char- 
acterize all great and true physicians. 

Lorilleux was, however, by no means an 
ordinary man. His great misfortune was 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


9 


that lie had never known enthusiasm. He 
never had youth or adolescence. He was 
born old, and he is to-day just what he was 
in his fourteenth year, when he was study- 
ing for the third bench of the Lyceum. There 
is no change in him, neither in size nor 
character. He is small, precise and formal. 
He is so exceedingly solemn, dignified and 
self-important, as to appear, at times, ridicu- 
lous. His insignificant figure is not the re- 
flection of his mind for that is a blank page 
on which nothing can be deciphered. More 
subtle than the ordinary Norman peasant, 
he has the weakness of supposing that all 
the world has the same mania as himself for 
finessing. 

He did not believe in disinterested actions 
and he always saw some hidden motives in 
those of others. You could not make him 
understand that people sometimes acted on 
the spur of the moment, without considera- 
tion. His invariable answer was: “there is 
something underneath. ” His days were 
spent in baffling, by skillful manoeuvres, fan- 
tastical conspiracies, or in laboriously un- 
ravelling the chimerical thread of some very 
complicated plot. Such exaggerated fears 
and fancies made his life miserable. His 
friends often laughed at his singular appre- 
hensions, and when they found him more 

2 


10 


A CHAN CM MAR It I AGE. 


preoccupied with them than ordinarily, they 
would say: “Well, Lorilleux, we want to 
know if you have solved the enigma !” 

In a word, this close calculator looked 
upon life. as a series of problems in algebra, 
the solution of which clever people must 
carry in their pockets. For ten years he had 
followed one rule of conduct, which he be- 
lieved in — never to trust chance; and he 
never varied from it in the least. 

Is it astonishing that such a man was nar- 
row-minded? He was the very opposite of 
Pascal, who had large ideas, a positive au- 
dacity in conception, and great courage in 
the initiative. Hence it was that he was 
reproached for having romantic ideas. 

These opposite characteristics are suffici- 
ent to account for the great friendship be- 
tween these young men; but there was still 
another cause for it. For a long time the 
physician had a design upon his friend, who 
was unconscious of it. It dated from their 
college days. 

Lorilleux had a sister ten years younger 
than himself, whom he tenderly loved. 
During the age that other young men in- 
dulge in ideas of pleasure alone, he was 
planning for his sister’s future. Their mo- 
ther, Madame Lorilleux, was a widow. All 
her fortune consisted of an annuity which 


A CHANCE IMA HIM AGIO. 


11 


would terminate with her life. What would 
become of the young girl in the event of her 
mother’s death? And, even aside from such 
a calamity, what would be her destiny in 
later life? A young lady without dowry 
stood no chance of marriage,* her family 
connections could scarcely make the “two 
ends of the year meet,” and there was no 
prospect that her brother, from the income 
of his profession, would be able to furnish 
her with a marriage portion by the time that 
she had reached her twentieth year. How 
then could she find a husband ? 

These were the ideas that tormented this 
precocious calculator at the age of seventeen; 
when he suddenly thought that his friend 
Pascal, would, in about ten years, make an 
excellent match for his dear sister. This 
idea appeared sublime to the penetrating- 
collegian. He instantly seized upon it and 
was haunted continually by it. He turned 
it over in every way, considered it in all its 
phases, calculated all its probabilities; and 
arrived at the conclusion that it was not 
only most admirable as well as most neces- 
sary, but also that, with a little patience and 
address, it might be realized. 

“The fortune,” he said to himself, “will be 
no obstacle; the family of Pascal is wealthy, 
and he is the most disinterested of men.” 


12 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


My sister is pretty, modest and refined; she 
will make him happy, and will be the best 
of mothers. She will certainly please Pas- 
cal; hut, even if he did not love her, he would 
marry her out of his affection for me, his 
dearest friend, and so strengthen our friend- 
ship and become my brother. Thus shall I 
procure the happiness of the two whom I 
most cherish, and to this end shall my 
efforts be directed.” 

It was for this that Lorilleux became and 
continued the intimate friend of Pascal, and 
took so tender an interest in all that con- 
cerned him. He knew to a cent the precise 
amount that he would inherit someday, and 
he had even spent fifteen days in Brittany, 
in the house of his future “brother-in-law,” 
for the express purpose of studying the 
characteristics of the future relatives of his 
sister. He returned convinced that there 
were no obstacles on that side. 

In the meantime he never uttered a word, 
nor made the slightest allusion to the sub- 
ject. He never said anything that could 
awaken any suspicion as to his design, or 
cause any alarm. He was altogether too 
sagacious for that. His sister was yet too 
young, and Pascal had not left college. It 
was necessary to wait, and he waited. 

But in the meantime, how attentive he 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


13 


was to his friend ! How he coddled him ! 
How solicitous he was to know everything 
that concerned him and his family ! Was 
there not involved, (as is often the case in 
provincial places) some little cousin deli- 
cately brought up, some project of union ? 
Ho, nothing of the kind. 

When Pascal was admitted to the Poly- 
technic School, he was congratulated by 
Lorilleux, who was undoubtedly the hap- 
pier of the two. How he praised and glori- 
fied him, saying to himself: “Good, my sis- 
ter will marry an officer of Artillery.” 

But Pascal and three others left and joined 
the School of Civil Engineers. 

“Bravo!” said Lorilleux to himself, on 
learning of this decision, “garrison life 
would not be agreeable to my sister; she 
will be the wife of an Engineer; this suits 
me better,” and he rubbed his hands. 

We may judge of his disappointment 
when the young engineer resigned without 
consulting him and without saying anything 
to him as to his intentions. This independ- 
ent way of acting annoyed the physician ; 
and besides that he considered it very foob 
ish to abandon a permanent position, a 
magnificent career! “The deuce take the 
thoughtless fellow,” he repeated to him- 
self, in the same tone, as if he said; “My 


14 


A CHANCE M A RRIAGE. 


poor sister has a husband who acts very 
foolishly.” 

He, however, partly concealed his annoy- 
ance. Pascal was a Breton, and that is to 
say, very tenacious of his own views. To 
change his determinations was impossible; 
and Lorilleux did not attempt to do so. It 
would have thrown a coldness over their 
warm friendship. But he earnestly de- 
nounced his inconsiderateness. The folly 
was done, it was now necessary to take ad- 
vantage of it, and the physician had, at this 
time, in view a certain position for an en- 
gineer. 

‘‘What will you do now,” he asked Pascal, 
“since you have thrown away five years?” 

‘ ‘Ho you think so, my dear friend ? I thought 
that I had spent my time profitably.” 

“But, what have you decided upon this 
time?” 

“You will see. I have a project.” 

“Ah!” said Lorilleux, with feeling, “you 
have never spoken to me about it.” 

“I wished to give you a surprise.” 

“Let me say in conclusion, that there is 
no one living avIio wishes you success more 
than I do. But life is not a romance. De- 
pend upon it, you are deceived. At any 
rate, my friendship compels me to give you 
my opinion; you have acted unwisely.” 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


15 


CHAPTER II. 

Unfortunately the opinion of Lorilleux 
was also the opinion of Pascal’s father, who 
was a licensed attorney in the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas, of Lannion, on the northern 
coast of France. 

The news of his son’s sudden resignation, 
pained him exceedingly. His most cherished 
desires and projects, which, as a consid- 
erate father, he had entertained for his only 
son, had come to an end. The fond dream 
of his life had been to see Pascal the in- 
heritor of his name and fortune, as an en- 
gineer, and to promenade the streets of 
Lannion with him, dressed in his superbly- 
embroidered uniform, with a sword at his 
side and a helmet on his head; but now, in 
the moment of its realization, it vanished. 
Mr. Divorne decided that it was only 
‘ ‘caprice,” because Pascal merely notified 
him that he had retired from the service, 
without a word of explanation or apology. 

Less than this would make a man furious, 
and the attorney did not fail to show his 
anger and send Pascal his severe remon- 
strances; and certainly he would have been 


16 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


justified in denouncing him twenty times, 
over. 

After the first excitement had passed, the 
unhappy father tried to reflect. It might 
have been better, had he done so at the be- 
ginning. He asked himself what right had a 
man, twenty-four years of age — for whom 
he had succeeded in securing a position, first 
in the Polytechnic School, and afterwards 
in the School of Civil Engineers, and whose 
education cost him more than thirty thou- 
sand francs — to resign his position without 
the consent of his parents or guardians ? 
Had he any right whatever? He questioned 
it, he consulted the authorities, but alas ! 
the evidence was against him. With pro- 
found sadness he detected a flaw in the law, 
and although he was an interpreter and a 
passionate admirer of decrees and statutes, 
he cursed the legislators and accused their 
want of foresight. 

In connection with this, and as if to in- 
crease his sadness and to inflame his anger, 
all whom he met in the streets wore sorrow- 
ful countenances, as if they knew all about 
what had occurred. 

The fact was that the news had spread 
rapidly through all Lannion, and on the 
very same evening had been, discussed in 
ten different localities, All sympathize^ 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE." 


17 


with, the father and censured the son with- 
out measure. 

From that day Pascal was undone. His 
fellow villagers declared that he was a lost 
youth, that he would never amount to any- 
thing, and that he would come to a bad end. 

It was certainly very sad to realize that 
he would, sooner or later, bring dishonor up- 
on his unhappy father. Some one had even 
said that Mr. Divorne had grown ten years 
older in two days. In a little while they 
would have affirmed that he had become 
gray in a night, as there have been instances 
of this kind known to have happened. 

In a word, Pascal could not have been 
more seriously reviled, had he ruined his 
family, committed perjury, or deserved 
the convict’s cell. Such was the great 
tenderness of heart of these charitable 
country people. 

Madame Divorne received twenty calls 
during the week. She never knew that she 
had so many friends, All the women, how- 
ever slightly acquainted, found some good 
pretext for calling, in order to ascertain ex- 
actly how matters stood, and they increased 
her heart wound, if indeed her heart had 
been wounded. 

It is important to say here that all, who 
blamed the son and sympathized with the un- 

3 


18 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


fortunate father, were generally convinced 
that his punishment was just. The attor- 
ney had always been prosperous, and pros- 
perity in a little provincial town is a crime 
not easily pardoned. The success of one is 
an injury to another. Jealousy lies dormant 
in all hearts. How many secret and en- 
venomed hatreds have their origin in this 
way ! 

Mr. Divorne was envied more than any 
other person in Lannion. He had been poor, 
and was now rich. He also owned the finest 
house in the village, but the people remem- 
bered the coarse clothing he wore when he 
was a clerk in the office of his predecessor, 
and they said he had been very lucky in 
business. 

“He has indeed been very fortunate,” said 
they, whose want of sagacity or manifest 
incapability had doomed to uniform medi- 
ocrity : “He is really a lucky fellow.” 

A small inheritance had enabled him to 
pursue his studies, and his wife’s dowry had 
purchased his business. Afterwards he had 
uniformily prospered through thrift and 
economy, 

How many fathers had he humiliated, in 
other days, by contrasting his son with 
their sons ! And with what unction did 
he express the satisfaction which his son 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


19 


gave him by annually returning with the 
first prize, having passed his examination 
with a clear vote! And afterwards how 
loudly did he speak of his high expec- 
tations ! 

This occurrence was therefore a merited 
punishment, another proof that no reliance 
can be placed on these model college boys, 
these young men of high spirit ; they trust 
to their own superiority; they desire to strike 
out into new paths, disdaining to follow in 
the footsteps of their ancestors, and usually 
turn out bad. It is an old saying that 
“genius is impracticable.” 

So it was for fifteen days ; all who ap- 
proached Mr. Divorne assumed a doleful 
countenance, because of his grief, although 
their hearts were filled with delight. At 
court he was condoled, and at the club he 
received a profusion of consolation; and his 
irritation was increased by his conviction 
that Pascal had actually committed a 
crime. 

At home he vented his rage and threw the 
blame on his wife, whose motherly par- 
tiality, he maintained, was blind and impru- 
dent, and had been the cause of all this evil. 
However, after further reflection and 
studying the situation more carefully, he 
became satisfied that the damage was not 


20 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


irreparable, and he had already thought 
seriously of writing to the minister of the 
interior, or of making a journey to Paris for 
the purpose of soliciting an interview, when 
Pascal, unexpectedly, one fine evening made 
his appearance under the paternal roof. He 
had arrived by the stage that ran between 
Rennes and Brest, 

His coming was certainly a surprise, and 
Josette, the old governess, who went to the 
door grumbling at the impertinence of the 
person, who was so bold as to ring the bell 
so furiously at that unreasonable hour, came 
near falling back in astonishment when she 
beheld her young master. 

She recognized him instantly, as she after- 
wards boasted, although his face was much 
altered, and he had grown taller and much 
stronger during the three years of his 
absence. 

She cried aloud for joy and surprise, and, 
dropping the candle, ran up stairs, calling 
on every one as if the house was on fire. 

In the meantime Pascal had closed the 
door and was groping his way in the dark. 

“It is I,” he cried out laughingly. “It is 
I, be not afraid. ” Surprised by the disturb- 
ance and the piercing cries of Josette, the 
attorney had opened the parlor door and de- 
manded: “Well, what is the matter ? what 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


21 


is the matter ? I say.” 

Josette’s emotion was so great that she 
could not speak, but Madame Divorne had 
already recognized the voice of her son, and 
ran in haste to meet him, even while her 
husband was still repeating: 4 ‘What is the 
matter ? what is the matter ?” Pascal was 
in the arms of his mother, who was crying 
for joy and pressing him warmly to her 
heart. 

For the sake of this her dearly beloved 
son, she had suffered much during the past 
two weeks, but his presence was enough and 
more than sufficient to compensate for all 
that she had endured. Seeing him, all was 
pardoned, or rather, forgotten. 

Mr. Divorne, on his part, in order to main- 
tain his dignity, thought it proper to be im- 
passible; and how could he do less since the 
principle of parental authority had been in- 
vaded ? 

He succeeded to some extent in mastering 
his emotions, but not without a painful 
struggle could he put on a look of severity 
that concealed a tear. He succeeded, how- 
ever, in preserving a coolness in his man- 
ner, and in exhibiting displeasure in his 
countenance, even while embracing his son 
who had been his joy and his pride. But 
further than this he had little control of 


22 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


himself. When Pascal embraced him, he 
felt that his anger was melting like the 
snows by the breezes of April. Parental 
emotion was gaining the upper hand with 
him, but not wishing to expose his weak- 
ness he pretended to have some urgent busi- 
ness to attend to — urgent business in Lan- 
nion at nine o’clock at night ! — and went 
out hurriedly, blowing his nose with un- 
usual force. 

The prodigal son had returned, and the 
father, unlike that one mentioned in the 
Bible, had not commanded the fatted calf 
to be killed for him; but the father of the 
Prodigal Son was not an advocate before the 
Court of Common Pleas. Pascal remained 
alone with his mother. 

It was necessary to prepare supper for 
this traveler, who had the appetite of a 
man, that for the last two days had only 
hurriedly eaten whatever he could obtain 
at the railroad buffets. He, however, not 
wishing to choke himself, had gone half 
starved. Josette busied herself in spreading 
the table before the fireplace, and in running 
up and down from the kitchen to the dining 
room, and back again, almost beside her- 
self, making ten turns for every necessary 
one and manifesting the depth of her 
emotion by now and then breaking a dish, 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


23 


or wiping a tear from her eyes. 

Madame Divorne was seated opposite to 
her son who was eating ravenously. She 
was in ecstasy, she gazed upon him ad- 
miringly, she desired to remain in this state 
for years. But an explanation between Pas- 
cal and his father was imminent, and that 
might be stormy. Was it necessary to cau- 
tion Pascal, or to obtain any concession from 
him ? She would interpose even at the risk 
of drawing upon herself the anger of both. 

“Thy father,” she said, “is greatly irri- 
tated, thou naughty boy; thou hast given 
us, or at least given him much trouble. ” 

“Not at all, my dear mother, I assure you: 
Let your mind be at ease, all will be well.” 

“At least thou shouldst have notified him, 
and asked his advice.” 

“Sure of a refusal, it would have been 
foolish: I could have gone no further; judge 
for yourself.” 

“Promise me at least that thou wilt be 
reasonable, even if he scolds, and that thou 
wilt not get angry.” 

“I will make you this pledge, but you will 
soon learn that I have been reasonable.” 

“Ah ! I hope so,” murmured Madame Di- 
vorne sadly. 

Pascal embraced her, and his cause was 
gained. She* was now confident that he 


24 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


could not be wrong, and she was ready to 
take sides with her son. And thus it is with 
all mothers : it is so difficult to convince 
them ! And then they cannot be imposed 
upon with bad reasons ! 

It appears the attorney recovered his 
equanimity by his out door exercise, for 
when he returned, after having dispatched 
the urgent business, his look was far from be- 
ing harsh or severe. His anger had passed 
away, and he talked, laughed and jested 
good naturedly with his son, without even 
referring to his resignation. 

The next day he did not speak about it any 
more than on the preceding night, nor did 
he mention it for several succeeding days. 
God knows, however, how he felt, when the 
people asked him wherever he went: “And 
so your son has returned ? Well, well, what 
does he say ?” 

The report of Pascal’s return had, in fact, 
spread rapidly; the people had seen the por- 
ter entering the house with a trunk and a 
hat box ; visitors began to assail the house, 
but Madame Divorne guarded the door, and 
made some enemies that day who never 
forgave her. 

Once Pascal thought it would do him 
good to go out, but he had scarcely taken a 
few steps, before he was met by five per- 


A CHAN CM2 MARRIACSE. 


25 


sons hvo of jphoni he knew hut little , 
and one he had never seen ; they all 
offered him their hands, and hypocritically 
inquired about the School of Engineers. He 
quickly returned home, denouncing his 
townsmen, and resolved that he would not 
again put his nose out of doors. 

The days were passing, and Mr. Divorne 
seemed to have forgotten altogether his com- 
plaints against his son. Annoyed by this 
state of uncertainty, Pascal had desired 
twenty times to give the explanation which 
his father longed for, hut was always pre- 
vented by his mother. 

4 ‘Don’t be in a hurry,” she would say to 
him. “I know thy father : it takes him a 
long time to come to a decision. He has 
been considering since thy arrival. When 
he has made up his mind, be assured that 
he will let thee know his determination.” 

And so it was ! One morning, after break- 
fast, when the table cloth was removed, the 
attorney asked his son to give him his 
attention. 

“ At last,” thought Pascal, “ the moment 
has come.” 

Mr. Divorne was exceedingly prolix in 
speech, so much so, that he had even been 
reprimanded in court for it; but, he never 
before had so abused this precious gift, as 

4 


26 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


on this serious occasion. The exordium to 
his discourse was a sort of apostrophe to 
paternal love. Who had discharged the 
duties of a parent better than himself ? He 
would be judged by his own son. Had he 
not given him many proofs of his affection? 
And what had been his reward? 

He then passed to the enumeration of the 
numberless cares which children give to 
parents. Nothing was forgotten of what he 
had done for him. from the time of cutting 
his first tooth, to the post-chaise journey to 
Paris, when he was very sick. This was 
the first point. The second related to pe- 
cuniary sacrifices, and was much longer. 
The attorney calculated and marked down 
all the moneys he had paid out, including 
the most trifling expenses, to secure for his 
son the advantages of an education of which 
he himself had been deprived. 

Finally, as might be expected, in the third 
place he came to the subject of compensa- 
tions, and acknowledged the satisfactions 
of every kind, which he had received from 
Pascal. These were numerous, and he did 
not omit a single one. 

In a word, this discourse was precisely 
like the perusal of a great paternal ledger, 
in which, on one side, were entered the 
sorrows and the losses, and, on the other. 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


27 


the joys and tlje profits; and so far Mr. Di- 
vorne acknowledged that the balance was 
in favor of his son, and that he was his 
debtor. 

“And now, my son,” said he, in conclud- 
ing his address, “I hope that thou wilt not 
change the present state of things. Thou 
must have reflected since thy return, and 
must now be sorry for having so foolishly 
ended thy career. Recall thy decision, 
write to the minister, who will not refuse to 
restore thee to thy position, and I will for- 
give thee the cruel chagrin which thou hast 
caused me.” 

The effect produced by this long disserta- 
tion was quite different from what Mr. Di- 
vorne expected; Pascal remained silent for 
some minutes, as he wished to collect all 
his forces. In appearance he seemed to hesi- 
tate, but, finally, with a firm voice, he said: 
“ My father, what you desire is impossible. 
Such a demand would be rejected, and, be- 
sides that, I cannot consent to it.” 

“Very well,” replied the attorney, with a 
sorrowful countenance, but ironically; “it 
is quite easy to get another position at once, 
and thou hast doubtless found something 
better.” 

“If no better,” answered the son, “at 
least something more to my taste. You 


28 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


must consider that I have Reflected before 
acting, and as to my intentions, it was pre- 
cisely to tell you what they are that I came 
home; and this was the more necessary be- 
cause I will require your assistance.” 

‘'This is indeed fortunate ! I now under- 
stand why thou hast thought of me. How 
then can I be of service to thee ?” 

''Before undertaking my enterprise, it is 
necessary to secure funds, and I must rely 
on you for them.” 

"Ah ! now I perceive,” said the attorney 
in a bantering tone, "thou dost require 
money; but it seems to me that before 
throwing up a good position, already secured, 
thou shouldst have made sure of my good 
will. If I were to deny thee — and I certain- 
ly will—” 

"But my father,” interposed Pascal, with 
some impatience, "it seems to me that, 
some ten years ago, an aunt of mine 
bequeathed to me about forty thousand 
francs.” 

Had any old woman of sixty years of age, 
almost confident of gaining one of her 
suits, come to him and said: "Mr. Divorne, 
I abandon it,” the surprise would have been 
less than that produced by the words of his 
son. 

‘Hn short,” said the attorney, bitterly, 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


29 


“thou dost ask me to render an account of 
thy property. This is indeed a cruel sur- 
prise !” 

Pascal vainly endeavored to clear himself 
from this imputation, for his words had cut 
to the quick. He tried to explain his con- 
templated project; to justify his course, and 
to tell him the use he wished to make of the 
money, but Mr. Divorne would not listen. 

“What matters all this to me?” he said; 
“I will not know any thing about it.” 

By this time they had wandered far from 
the original subject, and Mr. Divorne had 
even forgotten about the discussion, and 
was only intent on devising some method 
by which the money that belonged to his 
son could be saved. His aim was to let Pas- 
cal have as little as possible, for he was 
fully persuaded that a young man could not 
put to a good use so large a sum. 

“See here, Pascal,” he said, at last, “I 
know that thou dost want money, but thou 
couldst have taken some other way of de- 
manding it, without making thy father 
appear ridiculous. Did I ever refuse thee? 
I own that thou hast not made bad use of 
it, but thou hast been working hard for 
the last five years, and perhaps thou wouldst 
wish to amuse thyself, take a trip some- 
where, or — ” 


30 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


“Why, not at all, my dear father; if you 
will allow me to speak, I will tell you.” 

“Hold thy peace and listen to me,” said 
the father; “Thou hast doubtless contracted 
some debts. Well, well, all young people 
do that — ” 

“I do not owe a single sou.” 

“But hear me now: I will not ask any 
particulars. Dost thou want five thousand 
francs?” 

“My dear father — ” 

“Thou needst more — very well, thou shalt 
have ten thousand francs.” 

And now the attorney arose and walked 
towards the door, to indicate that the dis- 
cussion was closed ; but Pascal saw that it 
was necessary to be plain, and he said 
decidedly: • 

“My father, I want all or nothing.” 

“Nothing then !” replied Mr. Divorne, in a 
threatening voice, “nothing ! Dost thou be- 
lieve, extravagant youth, that I will allow 
thee to dissipate thy little fortune ?” 

“This money, however, at present, is 
necessary and indispensable.” 

“Ah ! it is indispensable, is it? very well. 
Thy aunt left thee a farm, a farm which I 
will deliver to thee in good condition, and 
with a profitable lease. Now then take it 
and be satisfied. What wilt thou do with 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


31 


it?” 

“I will sell it.” 

4 ‘Sell it ? And dost thou think that thou 
canst realize the money on it in a day or 
two ? Thou must wait for the opportunity, 
advertise it, and look about for a purchas- 
er. ” 

“I will advertise it, and try and find a 
purchaser.” 

“But thou dost not know, unfortunate 
boy, what thou art talking about! and what 
will all Lannion say if thou were to sell 
even the smallest part of it? Dost thou 
know what they would say?” 

“Of what importance to me is anything 
that they can say?” exclaimed Pascal with 
animation. “I will immediately go and ad- 
vertise it.” 

Mr. Divorne knew his son too well to per- 
sist, and perceiving that he had fully made 
up his mind, he said: “ Stop, I will spare 
thee this disgrace; I will find the money, 
however great the sacrifice.” 

Pascal regretted his irritability, and de- 
sired to take his father by the hand, but was 
repulsed with these words: “ I wish to spare 
thee these useless professions;” and then 
he added in an ironical tone; “I trust thou 
wilt allow me at least eight days.” The old 
gentleman then shuttled out of the room, 


32 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


shutting the door behind him with violence. 

During all this conversation, Madame Di- 
vorne had not uttered a word. She simply 
wept. Pascal was confirmed in his deter- 
mination by the anger of his father, but was 
weakened in the presence of his mother's 
tears, and kneeling beside her, and clasping 
her hands, he exclaimed : “Mother, dear 
mother, say one word — say but one word, 
and I renounce my project, and will do all 
in my power to withdraw my resignation. ” 

A dazzling lustre of joy and triumph 
sparkled in the mother’s eyes. Oh! how 
much he loved her, and what would he not 
sacrifice for her sake, although he had been 
so obstinate this very hour ! Such were her 
thoughts as she said : “No, my own dear 
Pascal, no; follow thine own inspiration. I 
have full confidence in thee.” 

“But, my dear mother, it is necessary 
that you should know — ” 

“No,” replied the mother, “no; I will 
know nothing. I tell thee again : I have 
full confidence in thee: and then, how could 
I ever understand — ” 

Pascal persisted, but she closed his mouth 
with her hands. 

For several succeeding days the household 
was sad. The attorney was morose, and 
said nothing. He shut himself up in his 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


33 


private room and was only visible at meal 
time : while Madame Divorne concealed her- 
self that she might weep in secret. 

Pascal did not like the idea of such 
torture. He would willingly have given 
two years of his life to get away. If he 
could only have spoken of his designs or 
shown his plans, it would have been a relief. 
But no ; he had vainly attempted two or 
three times to see his father, and his mother 
uniformly put him off with the same words : 
“I have full confidence in thee.” 

At last, on the day indicated, Mr. Divorne 
conducted his son into his private room, 
and said : ‘ ‘Here is the account of my 

guardianship,” pointing to a package of 
documents, “see if I have administered thy 
affairs like a good father: read and give me 
a receipt in full.” 

Pascal took a pen to write the receipt, 
but was interrupted by his father, who in- 
sisted that he should first read the papers. 

But Pascal would not do it, and so the 
attorney deliberately took up the documents 
and commenced to read them aloud, em- 
phasising certain details, and now and then 
pausing to ask: “Art thou satisfied with my 
administration ?” 

The papers were numerous, and by the 
time that the reading — which was most tor- 

5 


34 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


meriting to Pascal — had ended, he was ah 
most tired to death. 

“Thou art entitled to forty-three thousand 
seven hundred and fifty francs and twelve 
sous,” said the father. “ Here is thy money; 
see if it is correct.” 

Pascal was about to put the money in his 
pocket, but was prevented by his father, 
who insisted that he should count the bills. 

At length, Pascal complied, when his 
father said to him: “We are now quits, 
are we not ? when wilt thou depart ?” 

“As soon as possible,” replied Pascal: 
“to-morrow, if I can secure a place in the 
stage. They are waiting for me in Paris.” 

“Indeed,” replied Mr. Divorne, “thou dost 
wrong to make people wait for thee. ” 

“And yet, my dear father, I would not de- 
part from you in your present frame of mind. 
You are unjust to me, and I would — ” 

“All this is idle talk,” interposed the 
father impatiently, “leave me, for I have 
much to do.” 

By nine o’clock the next morning the car- 
rier’s boy came to inform Pascal that the 
coach would be ready by the time that he 
could reach the office. 

The farewells were painful. His mother 
sobbed aloud. To see the way in which she 
pressed her son to her heart, seemed as if 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


35 


she was embracing him for the last time, 
and Pascal was scarcely less affected. It 
was with difficulty that he could restrain 
his tears, and he could not utter a single 
word. 

But Mr. Divorne here showed the strength 
of his character, the energy of his will — an 
iron will — for he would neither embrace his 
son nor shake hands with him, and he even 
affected the tone of raillery and the manner 
of indifference. “ Remember,” said he to 
Pascal, “that thou earnest with thee all 
thy fortune. When thou hast squandered it, 
which, I presume will be before long, thou 
wilt honor me with another visit. I will 
always have thy room ready for thee. ” 

Pascal went alone to the stage-coach, and 
the people of Lannion concluded that he 
had been driven from his father’s house. 


CHAPTER III. 

About six years have elapsed since Pascal’s 
return from his visit to Brittany. The train 
he took reached the station of Montparnasse 
at five o’clock in the morning. It was a 


36 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


fine cold morning, the thermometer being 
seven or eight degrees below zero. None of 
the travelers, however, had been found 
frozen in the cars, although such incidents 
had been frequent before the railroad com- 
panies had conceived the happy idea of 
utilizing the steam of the locomotive for the 
comfort of the passengers. 

Pascal had made a trying journey. He 
loved his parents dearly, and the idea that 
he had distressed them weighed like remorse 
on his heart. Never had the road seemed 
so long, as on his return. While he was 
anxious to arrive at Paris, the train seemed 
to move very slowly, and to be very long in 
reaching the city. 

A few hours of sleep would have eased 
his impatience, but all his efforts to secure 
them were in vain ; for he could scarcely 
close his eyes before some employee of the 
railroad would enter his compartment and 
demand his ticket, and so disturb him. And 
then, he was not accustomed to travel with 
43,750 francs in his pocket, and the package 
of bills was a source of no little uneasiness : 
for, as a cautious man, he kept his hand on 
his money all the way from Lannion, and 
when he reached Paris his arm was almost 
cramped. 

Terribly fatigued and bruised all over, he 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


37 


had to wait half an hour or more for his 
baggage, and had just taken a seat in the 
waiting room, when he heard a cheerful 
voice calling out : ‘ ‘ Ah ! Mr. Engineer, Mr. 
Engineer. ” 

On turning around and looking along the 
railing, so admirably adapted to separate 
those who arrive from those who are wait- 
ing to meet them, he saw a large man 
with a blooming countenance, who was 
greeting him with all manner of signs of 
friendship, and immediately went up to 
him. 

“At last you have come, Mr. Engineer,” 
said the man with the blooming face. “I 
received your letter and have been waiting 
for you. I trust you have had a pleasant 
journey !” 

“Not very agreeable, I assure you. Ah, 
father Lantier, if I had not given you my 
word ! But, I finally got the money.” 

“Hush, not so loud, in the name of heaven! 
if any one heard you! It is not safe to speak 
of money in so loud a voice. Mine is also 
ready, and deposited in the Bank. If I kept 
it in the house, it would not let me sleep. 
We will keep this money invested, if you 
please.” 

“Yes,” said Pascal, with a sigh, “we 
ought not to lose the game.” 


38 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


“Lose the game, Mr. Engineer, when we 
hold all the trumps in our hands ! You are 
jesting, are you not ? But come, you will 
live at my house; it is quite near.” 

‘ ‘But, my dear friend, I would give you 
too much trouble.” 

“Give me trouble ! such a man as you ! 
You will not displease me by going to a 
hotel ! Take a good sleep until breakfast, 
after which we will talk over matters. I 
have discovered a brilliant affair ; but I 
will go at once and call a coach.” 

If Lantier did not fire off a cannon in 
honor of Pascal, it was because he did not 
have one; but his house had been turned up- 
side down; a good room had been arranged 
and warmed; a bottle of wine and a dish of 
excellent soup were prepared, and when 
Pascal was refreshed and ready to retire, 
the old gentleman told him, if he wanted 
anything, to ring the bell; and when assured 
by Pascal that all he needed was a little 
rest, and that he would be with him shortly, 
the honest old man retired on tip toe, and 
gently closed the door, saying to himself : 
“It is true, I am his partner, but who could 
have foretold that old Lantier would have 
become the partner of such a man ? He is 
the foremost engineer !” 

At present, John Lantier is one of the 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


39 


well-to-do contractors of Paris. He is not 
ambitious to be very rich, and he never will 
be. He intends to retire from business as 
soon as he is able to give each of his three 
daughters a portion of two hundred and 
fifty thousand francs, and be assured of an 
income of about twenty-five thousand 
francs a year for himself. 

Twenty years ago, he was a laborer and 
wheeled a barrow in the service of the Corps 
of Civil Engineers. He was cheerful and 
healthy, and earned sixty-seven francs a 
month after deducting what he allowed to 
accumulate for a time of need; and since he 
was a fine-looking fellow, and of good 
character, he found a good wife, whose 
dowry was six thousand francs, ready 
money; she was very pretty, gentle and 
economical; proved an excellent wife and 
made him the happiest of men. 

Children came, but, while the family in- 
creased, his wages remained the same, and 
trouble was creeping into the household. 
He had been accustomed to lay by a portion 
of his earnings, but now he was not able to 
earn enough to provide for his family, and 
had to draw on his capital. 

“ This will never do,”‘ he kept constantly 
muttering to himself, and one fine day he 
decided to make a bold effort. “I will 


40 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


trust to luck/’ said he, and notwithstand- 
ing the remonstrance of his wife, who ex- 
horted him to be patient, he returned the 
shovel and wheelbarrow to his employers. 

With a capital of ten thousand francs he 
started out into the enterprise of contract- 
ing for public works, but he soon learned at 
his own cost that even this calling required 
an apprenticeship. His first venture swal- 
lowed up half of his small capital, but 
nothing discouraged he kept at work, and, 
feeling his lack of education, he studied at 
night, and even expended some of his means 
for private instruction. After several un- 
dertakings, in which he neither made nor 
lost any money, by a fortunate contract he 
recovered his lost capital : then risked it 
again, and at last doubled it. 

Lantier was now forty years of age, and 
the possessor of forty thousand francs on 
which no one had a claim to the amount of a 
sou. He had lived well, and neither his 
wife nor children lacked anything. It was 
about this time that he became acquainted 
with Pascal, who was directing the work 
which he was executing. 

The young engineer took a fancy to the 
contractor, who was an industrious, intelli- 
gent and reliable man, in whom all had con- 
fidence, although his fellow contractors said 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


41 


he spoiled the business, because he con- 
tracted for anything and executed it at all 
hazards. 

It happened that Pascal did him a good 
service, and he was odd enough to be grate- 
ful. John Lantier had preserved the great 
veneration he had for the Corps of Civil En- 
gineers eyer since he had been in its service. 
He now transferred all that veneration to 
Pascal, and it soon broke forth in heartiest 
praises of the young engineer wherever he 
went. 

The work was completed, but the con- 
tractor did not lose sight of Pascal. He 
often called on him, sometimes only for the 
pleasure of conversing with him, and some- 
times to ask his advice, until, finally, with- 
out knowing the why or the wherefore of 
it, he would have gone through fire to serve 
the young engineer. 

As Pascal’s last year of study was ap- 
proaching its close, he was earnestly think- 
ing of handing in his resignation, and he 
only hesitated in his decision in order to 
ascertain how he could realize, to the best 
advantage, his activity and his skill. A 
powerful railroad corporation was consider- 
ing about engaging his services, but while 
impatiently awaiting its action, John Lan- 
tier, without any suspicion as to this matter, 


42 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


put an end to his anxiety and indecision. 

This was at the time of the demolition of 
Paris, or rather in the very height of the 
time when whole districts of buildings were 
being pulled down all over the city. The 
people were warned to leave, and then 
populous houses were demolished, new 
avenues were opened, and new buildings 
arose as if by enchantment. 

Lantier had been thinking of starting in 
this enterprise of demolition — which was 
comparatively a modern business — having 
already, however, its heroes, its dupes and 
its millionaires. But before he would under- 
take anything important in this direction, 
or trust his destiny or his money to a 
“sealed proposal,” he concluded to consult 
the young engineer, although he was per- 
sonally sanguine of success, and elated with 
the prospect of plans which he had im- 
agined, and over which he had meditated 
much and enthusiastically. 

He informed Pascal of his designs; ex- 
plained the mysteries of the business, which 
were not as well known then as now, and 
spoke of its good and its bad sides. He 
demonstrated that he was well versed in 
the business; that he had carefully studied 
all about buildings — how to erect them and 
how to pull them to pieces, and utilize the 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


43 


materials — and that he did not intend to 
venture rashly his forty thousand francs, 
which had taken forty years to accumulate, 
in an over-hazardous enterprise. And in 
fact he had tested the matter on a small 
scale, having sub-contracted an eighth ora 
twelfth part of a job, in a few instances, 
and only regretted, that he had been too 
timid and cautious. He was therefore con- 
fident of success, and in addition felt that 
he had a peculiar aptitude for that kind of 
work; in fact no man had ever worked up 
the debris of demolished buildings so ad- 
vantageously as he had. He was the first 
to undertake, on a large scale, the prepara- 
tion and sale of the old lumber for fuel. 
He employed twenty men at this work in 
his large yard near the old barrier of Mon- 
ceaux, and he daily sold as much as three 
hundred cords of wood to the wealthy, and 
thousands of small bundles, at two sous 
each, to the poor. 

Pascal reluctantly gave his attention to a 
man who was so enthusiastic as to believe 
that he could double his capital in a year. 
“But look here, Mr. Engineer,” said Lan- 
tier, “I will show you how matters stand. 
The city intends to demolish a certain dis- 
trict in order to reconstruct it : is not that 
so ? It is therefore necessary to pull down 


44 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


the buildings and to clear the ground. And 
what is the course pursued ? The district 
is divided into lots of two, four and ten 
houses, according to circumstances, and the 
lots are given to the lowest bidders. The 
contractors send in sealed proposals, and 
the best conditions are accepted. Now you 
may rely on this : that when men are 
acquainted with a business, they soon come 
to an understanding and will not allow the 
prices to fall very low; so that when a 
man has a contract for five or six of these 
lots, he makes a handsome thing out of 
it.” 

“But this requires a great deal of 
money,” objected Pascal. 

“Not so much as you may think. The 
city gives credit and is satisfied with secu- 
rity, corresponding to the leases. But the 
contractors soon have money enough. 
Everything belonging to a house — from its 
gable to its foundation, and from the cellar to 
the garret — is saleable. When buildings are 
torn down here, new ones are to be erected, 
and those who wish to build, purchase at 
a much lower price the old things which 
will answer their purposes as well as if new, 
and eagerly seize the opportunity. The 
slate, doors, windows, mantles, floors, stairs, 
and, in a word, all the stone, wood and iron 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


45 


are worked into ' the new structures, while 
the laths are packed in bundles and sold at 
two sous each, and even the old beams, 
broken brick and the other rubbish can be 
disposed of for — 

“But can money really be made at this 
business ?” interrupted Pascal. 

“By bushels, Mr. Engineer, by bushels !” 
replied Lantier; “and, please, listen to me. 
You know the grand Joigny; well, he work- 
ed with me, but now keeps a carriage; yes, 
sir, a carriage; he has paid for it and it is 
his own; and yet he was a stupid, idle fel- 
low, and began business on a very small 
capital — two sous — which he borrowed. Ah ! 
if I only had a hundred thousand francs 
instead of forty thousand, and the good for- 
tune to have a partner like you — ” Here 
Lantier discovered that Pascal was not list- 
ning, and discontinued his observations. 

“Ah ! but this is disturbing my mind,” 
muttered Pascal, as if in answer to some 
secret thought. 

“What ! how !” exclaimed the enthusi- 
astic contractor. “Would you like it ? No, 
this would be too much to expect. I should 
then make a fortune in a day. What I 
most need, is large views. Great trans- 
actions frighten me, and I suffer the best op- 
portunities to slide through my fingers. 


46 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


Then we ought to have acquaintances: 
most contractors talk with men of high stand- 
ing to learn what is going on in the world , 
while I dare not; but, if with you, I would go 
all lengths. I would go to the Prefect himself 
and say to him: “you wish to pull down 
Paris; very well, I will take charge of it, 
and this gentleman will reconstruct the city 
much better than any of your architects can 
do it.” 

The enthusiasm of the honest man made . 
Pascal smile. 

“You laugh,” continued Lantier, “but I 
would do as I have said. It is not enough 
to pull down; it is equally necessary to re- 
build, and this would be your concern. The 
profits are large; one new house can be made 
from three old ones; it is no more nor less 
than this. But enough of this now. You 
will think on what I have said, will you 
not ?” 

‘ ‘Hear me,” replied Pascal, ‘ ‘I wish to con- 
sider this carefully. I can procure the bal- 
ance of the hundred thousand francs, and 
it is possible that I might meet your wishes 
with respect to an association. Come again 
in three days, and I will give you an 
answer.” 

During this time Lantier was on thorns, 
and, long before the hour on the appointed 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


47 


day, he called on Pascal, with a heart beat- 
ing with hope and fear. 

“Well,” said Pascal, greeting Lantier, as 
the latter entered his room, “I have reflect- 
ed, and concluded to unite with you in the 
business.” 

Nearly wild with joy, Lantier exclaimed : 
“Paris is ours !” and in the height of his 
rapture embraced the young engineer, and 
then asked his pardon for the liberty he 
had taken. 

It was then agreed that Pascal should go 
to Brittany to procure his part of the capital 
of the new firm; while, during his absence, 
the contractor would collect together his 
funds, and look up some good jobs, as there 
was no time to lose. 

Both partners showed their appreciation of 
the value of time. Pascal found that business 
was prepared for him on his return, and he 
had scarcely finished his breakfast, after his 
rest, before Lantier submitted to him a 
large sheet of paper, on which he had made 
his calculations, exhibiting the advantage 
of purchasing half a dozen buildings on 
Harp Street, which was to be demolished in 
order to form it into the boulevard of St. 
Michael. They then agreed to go next day 
and visit these buildings — which they ac- 
cordingly did — and spent the entire day in 


48 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


measuring, calculating and appraising, ap- 
proximately, the value of these contemplated 
purchases, and the price which they would 
give for them. In the evening Pascal wrote 
out the first bid of the firm of Divorne & 
Lantier. 

They had strong hopes of obtaining this 
lot, for their offer was low enough. But 
they had concluded that, in this their 
first undertaking, they would be satisfied 
with small profits. And yet, providing they 
met with no losses, they expected to net 
about thirty thousand francs. 

Having handed in their proposal, they 
then awaited the result. 

Pascal did not feel at liberty to continue 
to lodge at his partner’s, although Mr. Lan- 
tier would have been much gratified to have 
him do so. He therefore began lo look 
for new accomodations — a tedious affair at 
best — and, after examining nearly a hundred 
apartments, he finally selected a small fur- 
nished room, not at all adapted to him, but 
which was very near the Hotel de Yille, and 
also near his business, which then centered 
in that locality; for it was under the high 
roof of the Police Station of the Seine, in 
a glass covered gallery, one hundred and 
eighty steps above the street, where the 
Commissioners of Public Ways transacted 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


49 


business. 

He had scarcely taken possession of his 
new lodgings, before his old friend Loril- 
leux, who had just heard of his return, called 
on him. During the month the physician 
had been quite anxious to learn what had 
become of the future husband of his sister. 
Was he going to return to Paris ? and what 
did he intend to do ? He was greatly per- 
plexed, and therefore hurried to get the 
news from him. 

As he was entering the apartment, John 
Lantier was passing out, and brushed 
against him, but Lorilleux did not notice 
him, as he was only dressed like a well-to- 
do mechanic. 

“At last,” he shouted from the door, “I 
have found my runaway; the wandering 
dove has returned ; let me shake hands with 
you;” and, assuming a questioning attitude, 
inquired: — 

“What did you mean by running away in 
that style ? will you be so good as to inform 
me ?” 

“Oh, most willingly,” replied Pascal, es- 
pecially since there is no possibility of 
swerving me from my purpose — ” 

“That is to say,” said the physician, “yuu 
were afraid of my advice, or too willful to 
trust to my wisdom. Very well; I am con- 

7 


50 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


fident that you have made a foolish choice. ” 

“I do not think so,” said Pascal. 

“Well then clear yourself or defend your- 
self; I listen” said the physician. 

“Well, my dear friend, I am a dealer in 
old houses, a wholesale mason, a contractor 
of demolition if you like it better.” 

“Is it possible !” exclaimed the physician, 
that you an old pupil of th£ Polytechnic 
School — ! you are jesting.” 

“Not in the least, and my partner is that 
big man covered with plaster, whom you 
encountered at the entrance. He came for 
the purpose of telling me that the contract 
for demolishing nine houses on Harp Street 
has been awarded to us, and the work on 
this our first job is to be commenced to- 
morrow.” 

He then related to the physician the story 
of his co-partnership; of his journey to Brit- 
tany; of his forty three thousand seven 
hundred and fifty francs, and of his father’s 
anger. 

Lorilleux was as much surprised as if he 
had fallen from the clouds; and every 
instant he uttered exclamations of astonish- 
ment: “Oh! Ah!” and finally throwing up 
his arms in despair, he said: “My dear 
friend, you have certainly lost your senses, 
and there is no remedy. Do you think that 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


51 


life is a romance, and that you have acted 
like the hero of a sensational tale ? When 
Paul Feval wishes to bestow a benefit on 
one of his characters, he gives him a mil- 
lion without untying his purse strings, but 
in real life millions are not acquired so 
easily.” 

“Who knows ?” replied Pascal with a 
slight shade of self-conceit. 

“It is not advice you need,” continued the 
physician, “but a cold shower bath. You are 
a poet, and you made a mistake when you 
went to the School of Engineers — which, by 
the way, was very far from Parnassus. Could 
any one have believed this of a mathema- 
tician ? My poor friend, you do not know 
anything about life or its difficulties; and I 
see with great sorrow, that you are on the 
road to acquire an experience at your own 
expense. You should have profited by my 
example.” 

‘ ‘This is not very encouraging. ” 

“Alas ! no, but it is the truth.” 

Here, however, the conversation closed. 
Pascal had already said that it was too late 
to change his mind, and the physician 
would not uselessly offend his friend. But 
Lorilleux was more than ever dissatisfied. 
This freak of his friend, he considered, had 
cost his sister forty three thousand seven 


52 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


hundred and fifty francs, because he re- 
garded the investment as good as lost, and 
he regretted it. He gonsoled himself, how- 
ever, by the reflection that his dearly 
bought experience would make Pascal wiser 
and give him more practical ideas. It is 
said that “past follies are a pledge of future 
wisdom,” thought he, and, therefore, it was 
better that his thoughtless friend should 
squander forty three thousand seven hund- 
red and fifty francs before his marriage 
than ruin himself when he was the father 
of a family. And, furthermore, he knew 
that the loss would not ruin him forever, 
for the heritage he expected from his family 
would enable him to live comfortably. 

Such were the reflections of Lorilleux; 
and, as misfortunes always have some ad- 
vantages, he concluded comp]ai$antly that 
this event would put Pascal under his 
direction , and so he would redouble his 
attentions and watch him more closely. In 
this he was sure Pascal could not escape; 
whereas, had he continued as an engineer, 
and been sent out of Paris, he might easily 
have married without consulting him, and 
then, what would have become of his pro- 
ject? 

From all this we may readily imagine 
that the physician became the constant 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


53 


guest of Pascal, and passed almost every 
evening with him. 

“ How is your novel getting on ?” he 
would now and then ask Pascal. 

“ Not so very poorly/’ would respond the 
partner of John Lantier. 

And indeed, if the enterprise was ro- 
mantic, its benefits were real. The Harp 
Street houses had paid less than what was 
expected, but others had yielded larger re- 
turns; two job lots, especially, near Saint- 
Lazare, had paid them far beyond their cal- 
culations. 

It is true that these two partners — Pascal 
the thinker and Lantier the worker — did not 
spare themselves. From morning till night 
Pascal was on the move, visiting, writing 
out agreements and proposals, besetting the 
commissioners of the Hotel de Ville; while 
Lantier, knee-deep in plaster, estimated the 
stones and the beams, without omitting to 
include the number of pints of wine that 
would be necessary in concluding the sale of 
the small articles. 

Such activity made Lorilleux think 
earnestly, and he did not fail to observe the 
joyful expressions on the countenances of 
the two partners. Pascal looked with in- 
creasing confidence on the business, and, 
from his calmness and equanimity, any one 


54 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


would have been convinced that he was sure 
of success; and as for Lantier he was grow- 
ing stouter every day. 

“He does not deceive me — he is certainly 
succeeding/’ was the frequent meditation 
of the physician; “ but is it not wonderful ? 
it is almost incredible ! And yet so much the 
better. Is it not for my sister he is work- 
ing ? and should I not rejoice both as a 
friend and as a brother-in-law ?” 

Pascal’s parents had, of course, been early 
made acquainted with the remarkable suc- 
cess of his enterprises. They would not 
listen to him at Lannion; but he knew that 
they would read his letters, and he wrote fre- 
quent^, although the answers came only 
from his mother. Regularly every week 
she addressed him a long, tender and good 
letter — just such as only mothers can write. 
But as to the father, he was still obstinate 
in his silence, and seemed to have lost the 
faculty of writing. 

At first, Pascal was much grieved on ac- 
count of the stubbornness of his father, but 
gradually became more reconciled to it, 
knowing that his father would finally re- 
lent, and that his indignation would give 
way in the presence of good and substantial 
proofs of his success — namely, his first mort- 
gages and his government securities; these 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


55 


he already possessed, and his business was 
prospering more and more. 

After two years, on taking an inventory 
of their property, Divorne & Lantier found 
that each was worth one hundred and sixty- 
two thousand francs, or as Lantier put it, 
“ every franc piece had become five francs.” 

Lorilleux was dazzled by this fairy like 
result, and could scarcely help doubting it, 
although he said nothing for the figures 
made it apparent. 

“Don’t you think you had better stop 
now,” said he to his friend, “rather than 
risk that which you have been so fortunate 
in gaining ?” 

But Pascal gave no heed to such warnings, 
except to reply: “ that he had not become 
wholesale mason to drop the business when 
he was in such a fair way of succeeding,” 
and the physician was obliged to impose 
silence on that uneasy voice within him 
which he called prudence. 

He consoled himself by the thought that 
his sister would have a carriage, and he 
even cherished the idea of availing himself 
of that carriage occasionally, in order to 
dazzle the eyes of those of his patients who 
persistently maintain that “talent never 
goes afoot.” 

But Pascal was not yet thinking about 


56 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


carriages, or, at least, he had never spoken 
about such luxury, although he had con- 
cluded to give up his small apartments — 
which never suited him — and surround him- 
self with more comforts, since he thought 
he had worked hard enough to deserve them. 

He accordingly hired a neat suite of rooms 
in the Rue de Rivoli, the windows of which 
looked out on Saint James Square. He paid 
for them somewhat more than three times 
their value; but the fine view, of course, had 
to be paid for. The prospect was certainly 
one of the finest in Paris, and at that time 
was not hidden by those two wretchedly 
constructed theatres — trifling and preten- 
tious — near which the magnificent tower of 
Saint James seems to stand as a protest for 
art and good taste. 

Wishing to make some repairs and to em- 
bellish the rooms, without having his rent 
increased or being ordered to leave, Pascal 
prudently took a lease of the premises. 
Numerous little items ran up the expenses 
necessary for him to obtain possession of 
the apartments to about one-sixth over the 
price agreed upon ; but he would not stand 
on trifles, and acted on the principle that 
it is best to conform to the custom of the 
country in which we live. 

He paid his rent six months in advance; 


A CHANCE MARK I AGE. 


57 


promised the porter that he would submit 
to the usages of the house; signed the 
requisite papers for legalizing his resi- 
dence, which cost him one hundred and 
fifteen francs; attended to numerous other 
formalities, and finally had a house. Such 
is the method of procuring a house in Paris. 

He next commenced making alterations. 
He made the seven small rooms into three, 
so that he could receive more than two per- 
sons at a time, stretch himself without in- 
juring his hands, and sneeze without the 
risk of damaging the globe of his clock. 

The owner allowed him to do as he pleased, 
intending to make him pay handsomely, in 
due time, for such waste of property. 

Pascal then really did something foolish. 
He played the Croesus, and laid out about 
twelve thousand francs in adorning his 
rooms with fine furniture, carpets, elegant 
silk tapestries, and three or four bronzes, 
such as are not found on all the ornamental 
clocks of fashionable hair-dressers. 

But, most singular to relate, Lorilleux on 
this occasion seemed oblivious to his role as 
Mentor, and, far from cautioning Pascal 
on economical expenditures, urged him to lay 
out still more. He had calculated that the 
suite of rooms was commodious enough for 
a, small family, that the expenditure of the 

8 


58 A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 

money for furniture was necessary, and 
that the sooner it was done the better. And 
if lie took an interest in the disposition of 
the apartments, as to the quality of the fur- 
niture, and the color of the tapestries, it 
was because they were to be furnished for 
his sister. So strong indeed was this con- 
viction in him, that he prevented his friend 
from buying a small painting — a master- 
piece of Boucher — because its design did not : 
altogether please him, though such an op- 
portunity is rarely offered. 

About this time, the rumor that Pascal 
was immensely rich had reached Lannion. 
He had jingled his gold; the sound had 
reached the ears of his fellow townsmen, 
and in a very short time the whole village 
knew that Mr. Divorne’s son was, without 
question, a 4 'millionaire. ” 

This incredible news had been circulated 
by two of his townsmen, who had vainly 
tried to make their fortunes in Paris. They 
had returned home no wiser than when they 
left, and several thousand francs poorer; 
yet with the conviction that ‘‘many are 
called, but few are chosen.” They had 
needed the assistance of Pascal, and sought 
him in their hour of need. Estimating 
the luxury of their townsman by their 
limited knowledge of the world, these 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 59 

worthy men had declared to every one that 
■ Pascal kept a carriage, and that he lived in 
a fairy palace. The people would not credit 
them, until all that they had said was 
confirmed with further particulars, by a 
young student, to whom Pascal had at one 
time lent eighty francs to enable him to 
attend a masked ball, and at another time 
a hundred francs to quiet his threatening 
tailor. 

This young man had occasionally been 
invited to dineat Pascal’s, and, having been 
struck with the splendor of his oak furni- 
ture and his bronzes, was incessant in his 
praise. The students of the University of 
Paris did not know that there were many 
articles of furniture made out of old oak 
and glazed pasteboard; that many of the 
Florentine bronzes were nothing but gal- 
vanized plaster, and, therefore, that this 
: young student — who had been amazed at the 
luxury and generosity of Pascal — was sincere 
in those descriptions which confounded his 
old neighbors. According to his ideas, Pas- 
cal was knee-deep in gold and at night slept 
on a mattress of bank notes. 

Pascal was . now admired more than he 
had formerly been reviled, even after making 
all necessary allowance for these exagger- 
ations. Those, who once shuddered at 


60 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


the thought of having a son like him, now 
pointed him out to their children, as a 
worthy example, while those who had most 
wronged him could scarcely forgive them- 
selves for such injury, such high treason. 
Ah ! money is a powerful pleader ! 

A large number of letters was the first 
and most natural result of this change of 
sentiment. Some wrote begging to be re- 
membered; others entreated his favor in 
behalf of their nephews ; and others de- 
nounced those who had most reviled him, 
while an alderman ventured to appeal “to 
his good heart in the name of the poor of 
Lannion, his birth-place. ” 

Pascal sent to the poor of his native town 
five hundred francs, but did not reply to 
any letter. This “royal liberality,” how- 
ever, convinced the people that his fortune 
had not been overrated, and that he could, 
by simply writing his name on a piece of 
paper, give it the value of money; and he 
was at once proclaimed a millionaire. No 
one, however, had the indiscretion to inquire 
how or where he came by such a fabulous 
fortune. Such questions are asked only in 
regard to poor devils. 

The success of Pascal had added greatly 
to the importance of Mr. Divorne, who was 
now held in very high estimation; he was 


A CHANCE MARK I ACE, 


61 


reaping the advantage of his son’s success, 
some of whose golden rays fell upon him . 
and the people bowed reverently before the 
father of so rich a man. 

And yet the attorney was the only person 
who discredited the rumors of his son’s 
success, and called them the “wild talk of a 
small town.” 

It was true Pascal had written that he 
was making money, but, queried the attor- 
ney, mentally: “is it probable ?” Had he 
not prophesied that he would be ruined ? 
The prediction must be fulfilled; for a father 
ought never to be mistaken, and he there- 
fore still looked for the return of his son as 
a beggar. 

Pascal’s generous contribution of five 
hundred francs to the poor, which had be- 
come so generally known, had unsettled 
the conviction of Mr. Divorne; but who 
could assure him that what he had heard 
of his success was not false? More wonderful 
things than this are of daily occurrence. He 
became uneasy and his mind was much per- 
plexed. His ideas were confused, and he 
did not exactly know whether to be sorry 
that he had proved a false prophet, or to re- 
joice at his son’s good fortune, if indeed he 
had really succeeded. 

This state of uncertainty was insufferable 


62 


A CHAN C 15 MARRIAGE. 


to the attorney, and he decided to go to 
Paris to ascertain the truth, but was un- 
willing to speak of his wish. He therefore 
so artfully managed matters that his wife 
was made anxious that he should go, and 
urged him to do so. For the sake of 
: appearances he pretended to be indifferent, 
and for a time refused, but finally yielding 
to the entreaties of the distressed mother, 
announced one fine morning that she 
had prevailed. But although he appeared 
to have decided suddenly, he had already 
made his arrangements for the journey, and 
started at once; he hoped to surprise his 
son very much, but in this he was mis- 
taken, because he did not surprise him a 
bit. 

Pascal was taking his ease — talking 
quietly with Lorilleux, who spent nearly 
every evening with him — when his father 
entered. He was not greatly embarrassed, 
but, on the contrary, he was overjoyed. 
The visit was unexpected, although he had 
long waited and hoped for this little triumph, 
he was truly happy to embrace his 
father, who, on this occasion, cast aside liis 
habitual coldness and manifested much 
tenderness, although a witness of his weak- 
ness was present. 

At a glance the lawyer saw there was 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 63 

some truth in what Pascal had written, and 
this made him ashamed of liis protracted 
stubbornness; hut he did not indicate it, 
and only endeavored to show himself ami- 
able and affectionate. And as he wished to 
know the facts, he thought he would draw . 
them out, by playfully relating to Pascal 
the rumors which had convulsed Lannion. 
Pascal smiled at the fertile imagination of 
his townsmen; but not wishing to keep his 
father any longer in doubt, he, in a few 
sentences, told him the amount of his for- 
tune, and that he had an income of eighty 
thousand francs a year as the result of his 
diligence for less than two years and a half. 

This modest income was far from the mill- 
ions reported, and comparatively insignifi- 
cant to the amount stated in the rumors; 
but to the lawyer it seemed prodigious. 
Looking back on his own life he remem- 
bered that when he was twenty-six years 
old — just the age of his son at this time — he 
was nothing but a second clerk in a provin- 
cial law-office, with a salary of but one thou- 
sand francs a year. All this money of Pas- 
cal’s, made in so short a time; was in con- 
flict with his preconceived notions, and he 
could not help expressing the opinion that 
such an income had been acquired too easily. 
He exultingly referred to the good old times, 


()4 A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 

when it took a man twenty years to lay up 
an income of twelve thousand francs a year. 
But he did not take into consideration that 
an income of one hundred thousand francs 
in that “golden age” was equal to nearly 
five hundred thousand francs in this “age 
of iron.” 

Mr. Divorne was one of that class of men 
who always maintain that they are right, 
however strong the evidence against them; 
and, for the purpose of demonstrating that 
he was right, by an argument as clear as 
day, he once more took up his favorite topic, 
and endeavored to convince his son that 
he had been very wrong in resigning his 
position as engineer, and in not acting on 
the sound advice of a father, whose ex- 
perience was so much larger than his. But 
since he only spoke for the purpose of 
justifying the stand he had taken, there 
was no bitterness in his words. 

“Even if thou hadst the millions thou art 
supposed to have,” said he, “I would still re- 
peat that thou wast altogether in the wrong. 
I am too firmly established in my principles 
to be turned from them by thy success; 
for, although thou hast succeeded, thou 
shouldst have failed. And then an exception 
does not destroy a rule, and thou art 
an exception.” 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


65 


Pascal submitted in the mildest way in 
the world; for what would be gained by 
combating opinions more solid than the 
rock, which the waves of the sea at length 
wear away ? Besides, he would have to 
deal with two adversaries, his father and 
Lorilleux, the latter supporting the lawyer, 
with all his eloquence. Lorilleux had at 
last found a man who thought as he did, 
and, having triumphed, he abused his ad- 
vantage. The attorney and the physician 
became very intimate at the first interview * 
and their friendship and esteem for each 
other constantly increased during the en- 
suing two weeks. The more they conversed 
together, the more clearly they understood 
each other; and the cunning Lorilleux, with 
rare skill, availed himself of this fine oppor- 
tunity to settle himself securely in the 
heart of his friend’s father. He even dared 
to broach, cautiously and delicately, the 
possibility of Pascal marrying at some 
future time, and was made the happiest of 
men when he thought he had ascertained 
that Mr. Divorne would be indifferent as 
to the dowry of the woman, whom his son 
might select for a wife. 

The fortnight passed like a dream to the 
attorney, and he would have been entirely 

satisfied, if Pascal had only had one of those 

o 


66 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


titles which have such a fine effect on a 
visiting card. But he had none; for no 
man would like the title of 'Demolisher. Mr. 
Divorne could not help communicating this 
regret to his son. “If they ask me,” said 
he, ‘ ‘what thou art doing, what answer can 
I give ?” 

“Ah ! my father,” replied Pascal, “am I 
not always an engineer, and, now more 
than ever, an architect ?” 

“Thou art always joking,” said the at- 
torney good naturedly. When wilt thou 
become as serious as Mr. Lorilleux ? He is 
certainly a steady man and knows what is 
becoming, and thou art really fortunate in 
having such a person devoted to thy well- 
fare. It is rare indeed.” 

Mr. Divorne was also much pleased with 
John Lantier. It is true he had been sur- 
prised to find his son associated in business 
with a man, on whom a blouse would be 
more becoming than a dress-coat, but the 
hearty good nature, and plumpness of the 
contractor charmed him. And then Lantier 
had given a great dinner in honor .of his 
partner’s father; and the arrangement of 
the feast, the magnificence of the dishes, 
the courses, and the excellence of the wines , 
filled up the measure of Mr. Divorne’s 
amazement, as he had no conception that 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


67 


such a man — who spent his days in the 
midst of rubbish and plaster — could at night 
enjoy so comfortable, not to say luxurious, 
a home. 

But Mr. Divorne, at length, took his de- 
parture, having been greatly delighted with 
his visit, and having secured the promise 
from Pascal that he would visit his home at 
Lannion, at least once a year. 

“It is certain,” said he to his wife, after 
his return, “our son is in a very good posi- 
tion.” 

We may imagine the great joy of Madame 
Divorne at this announcement. ‘ Without 
doubt,” said she to herself, “Pascal will 
soon think about getting married, and it is 
my duty to look out for a young lady worthy 
of such a husband.” 

Nearly the same thoughts had flashed 
through the mind of John Lantier. “If I 
could marry one of my daughters to the 
young engineer,” thought he, “how happy 
it would be for her, and how honorable to 
me to have, as a member of my family, a 
man who has been the most brillant student 
in the Polytechnic School ! Let me see: 
I have three daughters who will soon be 
marriageable. They are pretty and well 
brought up. Upon my word, I will give 
him his choice. ” 


68 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


Thus the liberty of Pascal was threatened 
from three sides at the same time, and he 
had no suspicion of it. 


CHAPTER IV. 


The visit of Mr. Divorne, and two jour- 
neys to Brittany to embrace his mother, 
were the greatest events in the life of 
Pascal, during a period of six years, which 
is as much as to say that his life was calm 
and his habits regular. 

All pleasures were within his reach, and 
he had what many young men have not 
— money and liberty — but he did not abuse 
them. No young man had ever lived 
further from those stupid enjoyments which 
cannot well be avowed, and towards which 
rich young men rush so furiously — young 
men, who are for the most part the offspring 
of the titled nobility of the last century, 
and the multitude of absurd dandies, who 
ape the vices of the princes of foppery only 
to become ridiculous. Without being the 
ideal of virtue, Pascal, nevertheless, would 
have pleased a mother-in-law. 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


69 


But Pascal was not entitled to all the 
credit of his exemplary course. A good por- 
tion of it was due to Lorilleux, who watched 
over him with as much anxious care as a 
mother watches over, not her son, but her 
daughter. Day and night like an Argus 
with his hundred eyes, constantly open, the 
physician looked after his future brother-in- 
law, aftd was more vigilant than the dragon 
which guarded the entrance to the garden 
of the Plesperides, and which Hercules killed 
so that he might at once steal the apples, 
and give an impressive lesson to all future 
guardians. 

Once or twice Pascal had come near 
making a somewhat serious connection, but 
it was on this occasion that the physician 
showed his skill. He was a man who would 
avail himself of the smallest expedients , the 
slightest ruse or stratagem that would lead to 
results, and never recoiled from trifles, if 
thereby he could frustrate the design of 
another; and, even if he overstepped the 
bounds of honesty, he cared but little about 
it. He felt that he was accountable for Pas- 
cal, and he protected him with the con- 
scientiousness of an overscrupulous trustee, 
and yet with as much adroitness as that of a 
man who is afraid to awaken any suspicion. 

But that which most alarmed Lorilleux 


70 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


was to see his friend going into society. 

The Parisian balls are tapestried with 
cobwebs woven by mothers anxious to get 
rid of their young daughters, and thought- 
less bachelors attend them and are insnared. 
They walk in the midst of nets spread for 
them; and should one of them any evening 
be thrown off his guard, he is undone. He 
is pierced with a glance, coaxed, beguiled, 
made giddy, captured, tied and married be- 
fore he is aware of what he is doing. He 
may not have decided to marry, or may not 
be satisfied with his selection, but, not- 
withstanding, he has pronounced the fatal 
“yes.” 

The physician knew all about these things, 
if not from his own experience, at least from 
reliable information ; hence he did all he 
could to prevent Pascal from profiting 
from some fine acquaintances he had, and 
who were ready to take him into society ; 
and he brought company to him in order to 
keep him away from these resorts, where 
he could not always follow him. 

Through his efforts the rooms of Pascal 
became the centre, the place of reunion of 
a group of young men of his own age — an 
agreeable, social circle of good standing — • 
and each one remarkable for some special 
qualification. Each of them, before his ad- 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


71 


mission, had passed under the most careful 
and searching scrutiny of Lorilleux, and 
none of them had any marriageable sisters. 

Pascal allowed him to do as he pleased, 
and although he understood perfectly well 
his little stratagems, he gave himself no 
concern about them. He was, however, 
far from guessing the real drift of the phy- 
sician; but, even had he known it, he would 
not have been alarmed. It is only those 
who feel that they are too weak to with- 
stand a siege, and sacrifice their will to that 
of another, that are oppressed with the fear 
of tyranny. They are conscious of their own 
irresolution; imagine that they see in every- 
thing some attempt on their liberty; are 
forever wavering between the opinions of 
Peter and the advice of Paul, and are un- 
pleasant companions. At the slightest word 
they raise the standard of independence, 
declare themselves rebels, and then go over 
to the other side. If they should marry, 
their wives will wear, under their crinoline, 
the garment which, people say, belongs to 
the stronger sex. 

Lorilleux had no little revolts of this kind 
to fight against; for Pascal was too self- 
reliant to fear the influence of others, and, 
far from being displeased with his friend, 
was rather touched by his attentions. 


72 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


Besides this, the kind of life provided for 
him accorded with his tastes; for, while he 
liked society, he disliked to go out; and was 
never better pleased than when passing the 
time with four or five good fellows, an 
event which occurred nearly every evening, 
to the great annoyance of the porter, who 
thought it very bad for so many to go up 
the waxed stairs, especially in rainy 
weather. At all other times Pascal was 
absorbed in his business, which was daily 
increasing in importance. He was equal to 
everything, and attended to the most 
minute details. There never was a more 
active contractor, and he possessed the rare 
gift of making all around him active. He 
knew how to recognize zeal in others; he 
was never parsimonious, and he disdained 
ruinous economies; hence his workmen did 
not spare themselves, wasted no time, were 
confident of double pay for double work, 
and went to their toil heartily, and sure of 
reaping some benefits, when completed. 
Thus it was that he obtained such remark- 
able results, and that his rivals questioned 
if he was not something of a sorcerer. They 
racked their brains to find out this very 
simple thing, that Pascal knew how to 
secure esteem, and how to sacrifice a thou- 
sand francs to advantage. 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


73 


After having pulled down buildings, the 
two partners undertook to rebuild — a very 
difficult business, in which the most skillful 
are apt to make mistakes — and in this they 
were also successful, because they went into 
it cautiously and with good judgment. 

Both Pascal and Lantier knew, without 
looking over the statistics, that the number 
of rich people in Paris, as elsewhere, is 
comparatively small, and they had respect 
to this fact in their calculations. Unfor- 
tunately, the landed proprietors and the 
rich capitalists are not yet convinced 
of this disagreeable truth, and their archi- 
tects only build palaces or costly abodes, 
with sculptured balconies and marble paved 
halls : such tine buildings are intended for 
millionaires, and even attic occupants must 
have a familiar acquaintance with the bank; 
it has, however, been a useless trouble and 
a waste of words to represent to these obsti- 
nate persons that they are not doing any 
good, since there are but few families that 
can afford over five thousand francs a year 
for their lodgings. 

When, in course of time, those palaces 
will have no other occupant than a sullen 
and insolent porter; when the bills of “flats 
to let” have been exposed to the weather for 
years without securing a tenant, then will 

10 


74 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


these saddened proprietors, receiving no 
income from these buildings, listen to the 
complaint of their depleted purses. But 
though they may divide and subdivide 
their magnificent apartments, they can 
never turn them into comfortable lodgings, 
and will still have to let them at high prices. 
Many will then be ruined; while all will be 
set to thinking; the building of palaces will 
be abandoned, and the building of houses 
will begin. 

Pascal and his partner, more modest as 
well as more prudent, were satisfied to erect 
comfortable dwellings, suitable for a man 
of family with an income of less than sixty 
thousand francs a year, and there are many 
such. Hence, as soon as they completed 
one of their buildings, it was immediately 
rented from cellar to attic at reasonable 
prices, and yet paying from seven to eight 
per cent on the investment. 

These commodious houses, rented so 
readily, were also easily sold, and no sooner 
was one fitted for occupancy, before a pur- 
chaser was on hand to buy it. Pascal soon 
acquired the reputation of a reliable archi- 
tect, and the capital of the firm augmented 
daily. 

This constant good fortune, which was the 
result of such good sense and general infor- 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


75 


mation, was exceedingly annoying to Lo- 
rilleux, who could not account for it, and he 
tried to console himself by repeating the 
vulgar refrain, with which those who fail 
to make a fortune stun the ears of the 
prosperous: “It is all luck.” • 

As for Lorilleux he had not been lucky. 
He had sowed in patience, but he had not 
reaped, as he had hoped. Every morning he 
awoke with some little disappointment, and 
he daily found out some error in his calcula- 
tions ; but, instead of attaching any blame 
to himself, he attributed it all to circum- 
stances, as if the secret of success did not 
consist in controlling circumstances, and 
turning them to our own advantage. 

The physician had dreamed of glory and 
fortune, but glory and fortune had fled from 
him, and his name was still so obscure that 
his most distinguished patient was a retired 
druggist, who, since he had left the pure 
and fresh air of the country, had become 
slightly asthmatic. 

Thus the temperament of Lorilleux insen- 
sibly became sour and bilious — which is the 
livery of the envious; he also gradually be- 
came tyrannical, sensitive and tedious, put- 
ting the worst construction on everything, 
neither concealing his hatred nor his scorn 
for men ; in every direction he saw intriguers 


76 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


and cunning fellows more adroit than him- 
self, and he lamented his own want of skill. 

But there were other concerns which 
troubled the sleep, and clouded the brow of 
the physician. Pascal would soon become 
a decidedly rich man, and Lorilleux was 
very much annoyed at the idea that this 
fortune, acquired so suddenly, had discon- 
certed his predictions. “Would it not be an 
obstacle ?” thought he. Relying on his own 
experience, he considered that Pascal, with 
an income of twenty thousand francs , would 
be much less disinterested than he might 
have been, if comparatively poor. He who 
had once been, for the sake of his sister, 
overjoyed at every fortunate enterprise of 
his friend, had now fallen so low as to wish 
earnestly that he might meet with some 
failure which would reduce his capital ! 
He reproached himself bitterly for having 
waited so long, and resolved to unmask his 
batteries, not all at once, but cautiously. 

Unmasking is the right word; for no one 
had suspected Lorilleux’s intentions, and 
not even his mother knew any thing about 
them. This profound diplomatist never 
allowed any thing of his secret to escape , 
and his sister was as ignorant as his friend 
of the darling project which he had cherished 
during fourteen years. And what a secret ! 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


77 


The dream of a life time. 

With a prudence superior to his years, 
Lorilleux had been very careful not to 
admit his friend to the intimacy of his 
family, for he had foreseen that marriage 
between two young people, who had been 
brought up together, would be almost im- 
possible. Their daily intercourse would re- 
sult in nothing hut a sincere and tender 
friendship. Through his habitual pre- 
caution, Miss Lorilleux and Pascal had 
only been in company on rare occasions, 
when the interviews had been man- 
aged with infinite art, and they had not 
spoken to each other more than ten times 
in all. 

The great concern of the physician now 
was how to bring these young people 
together — a very serious affair indeed ! 
It seemed to him, however, as if all diffi- 
culties were removed, except that sudden 
fortune. 

Pascal was about thirty years of age, and 
endowed with all those external advantages 
which captivate a woman. 

Miss Lorilleux was eighteen years of age, 
a brunette remarkably pretty, exceedingly 
pleasing in her manners, distinguished in 
her appearance, and indebted to her brother 
for a more thorough education than women 


78 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


ordinarily receive. And in addition to this, 
her far-sighted and , exacting brother had 
applied himself to gain the complete control 
of her will; increased at pleasure his 
tyranny, and thus prepared her for the 
happier days of the future, when she would 
be under a less severe yoke. 

When the physician thought of them both 
— his friend for whom he ha^ cared so con- 
stantly, and his sister whom he loved so 
tenderly — and saw how perfectly they were 
adapted to each other, he could not help 
wondering at, and congratulating himself 
for, his labors. In his mind they were 
already married, and he was installed in 
their household, enjoying his reward and 
beholding their daily happiness. 

Having decided on the disclosure, Lo- 
rilleux concluded that he must first and 
cautiously accustom Pascal to the idea of 
marriage, and then make him long for it. 
This was only a question of time; but in this 
preparatory work, the physician, without 
knowing it, had two powerful auxiliaries. 
Madame Divorne did not like the idea of 
having sought and found an heiress for a 
daughter-in-law, and, thus far, of having lost 
her time and care; accordingly, in her let- 
ters, she not only eulogized a certain young 
lady, as the 'Peai'l of all Brittany, but 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


79 


allowed to slip from her pen some deli- 
cate allusions to matrimony; John Lantier 
having the marriage of one of his three 
daughters in view, kept repeating that a 
man must be crazy to resign himself to a 
lonely life, when there were, as every one 
knew, so many charming young ladies, who 
had been educated in the most renowned 
boarding schools — modern establishments 
where even the dullest girls soon learn to 
make three toilets a day. 

But Lorilleux, having daily intercourse 
with Pascal, could influence him more 
directly; and therefore, in order to incline 
him towards marriage, he had conceived the 
very ingenious device of pretending that he 
himself had a fancy to marry. By this 
means he could say whatever he pleased, 
and all his hints would be regarded as the 
effusion of his unsuspicious friendship; and 
how forcibly he pictured the bitterness of 
solitude and the sadness of celibacy ! And 
how earnestly he descanted on the delights of 
marriage — on the pure happiness of two souls 
that understand each other, and whose 
union has been sanctioned by the church and 
acknowledged by the law ! Then, he would 
carefully give the “decisive reasons” which 
controlled him: “A man,” said he, “should 
marry when he is young, and not be so 


80 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


foolish as to put off the selection of a com- 
panion until his declining years, as do those 
shameless old scamps, who are less anxious 
for a wife than for a woman who can attend 
them in sickness. What do such old men 
bring to the chaste young women, whom 
they lead to the altar, in exchange for their 
treasures of youth and candor? A dead 
heart, a withered imagination, a worn-out 
body, a wreck, only the ruin of a wasted life. 
Their destiny is sad indeed. One must look 
into those houses, a year or so after mar- 
riage, to witness their wretchedness. In 
England, America and Germany, they are a 
thousand times wiser than we are. In those 
countries a man marries the woman he 
loves, and for her own sake; and we never 
hear of those shameful negotiations, which, 
in France, make marriage a mere business 
transaction, a matter of money, coolly dis- 
cussed by the notaries and concluded on the 
basis of a cipher to be added to the sum 
total. In those happy countries it is not the 
dowry which allures . those who wish to 
marry; and, therefore, all handsome and 
amiable young ladies, whether they are 
rich or poor, find husbands, and only the 
homely fail to marry, unless they possess 
some good qualities which overbalance their 
homeliness. ” 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


81 


This was the constant theme of Lorilleux’s 
discourse, to which he gave utterance in the 
eloquent strains of conviction; and he daily 
contrived some new form in which to repro- 
duce his pet idea. He was, indeed, quite 
poetic in his descriptions of the enchant- 
ments of the honeymoon; and, judgingfrom 
his nightly conversations, we are almost led 
to believe that he consulted every morning 
some pages of that amiable and ingenious 
book, which, after having enriched and 
made famous Legouve, Senior, has con- 
tributed to the literary success and renown 
of Legouve, Junior. 

To all this idle talk Pascal gave no atten- 
tion; and when Lorilleux had described the 
woman of his dreams, that is to say, eulo- 
gized his own sister, and exclaimed: “yes, I 
have fully decided: the day I find such a 
woman, I will marry,” Pascal would inno- 
cently reply: “you do well.” 

In such a moment, it required all his force 
of character to restrain the physician from 
asking his friend: “Very well, and you, 
when will you marry ?” But Pascal had, on 
two or three occasions, anticipated this ques- 
tion, which was continually suspended on 
the lips of Lorilleux, and had said: “I will 
probably marry, as almost every one else 
does; but I am too young and can wait. I 

ii 


82 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


feel quite contented as I am; solitude does 
not in any way oppress me; and besides, in 
these days a wife is a luxury still beyond 
my means. A man must certainly possess a 
fortune not to regard the dowry as tlie first 
thing to be considered; and yet, as to myself, 
I wish to be able to select a wife, without 
much concern about her dowry.” 

Lorilleux was vexed at the want of en- 
thusiasm of Pascal, but he was enraptured 
at his disinterestedness, and God knows 
how he approved his views. 

“A wife should owe every thing to her 
husband,” he used to say; but, in his inmost 
heart, he denounced those women who com- 
pelled men to say that “a wife was a luxury, 
and that a man must be rich to marry.” 
“It is this grievous consideration,” thought 
he, “that peoples monasteries; ten coquettes 
make a hundred old maids; the example of 
one woman, who has ruined her husband, 
makes fifty men swear to live and die 
single.” 

Lorilleux’s persistency, however, had pro- 
duced some good results. His assumed 
mania to marry was the favorite topic of 
conversation among the friends, who met 
nightly at Pascal’s. He had planted an idea 
which was already sprouting, and, ere long, 
it would bear fruit; it would indeed have 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


83 


been singular, had it not been so; for it is 
among young people as it was with 
Panurge’s sheep, if one leads, the others 
will follow. 

In the meantime, these young people 
bantered the physician, and vied with each 
other in teasing him, under cover of being 
interested in his views. ‘ ‘Doctor,” said one, 
f ‘I have what you want — a young lady 
worth one hundred and twenty thousand 
francs, with the prospect of more. I have 
seen the record of her parents’ fortune at 
the notary’s.” 

Another would say: “Lorilleux, I have 
seen the picture of a charming young lady 
in Badie’s show-case, near here; she will 
suit you. You had better go and ask for 
her address.” 

Although contrary to his nature, the 
doctor would take these pleasantries in good 
spirit. “By Jove,” he would reply, “You all 
know, of course, my wants : every one knows 
what a man, well established and who 
wishes to marry, wants; but the misfortune 
is that while he may suit the young lady, 
she will not suit him;” and Lorilleux said in 
his heart: “All right, my friends, all right; 
the trainer of a horse may have to lead him 
a thousand times to the ditch, before he will 
leap it. You will jump too, though I care 


84 


A CHANCE MARK! ACE. 


very little what you will do; Pascal will 
also jump, and this is what I desire.” 

This machiavelian Doctor had gone so far 
in his sage course, when one of his friends 
came to him with a most seductive proposal. 
Although, at first, he seemed to laugh, this 
friend had really taken the matter in earnest 
and had inquired, for a good match for the 
doctor, among five or six of his old lady ac- 
quaintances, who very promptly found 
what he wanted. He now proposed to in- 
troduce Lorilleux to the lady, assuring him 
that he could see her, without committing 
himself. 

The doctor listened attentively to the de- 
tails of his friend, but proffered some objec- 
tions, and finally declined the offer. 

“He is very difficult to please,” said one 
of the young men : “we shall never induce 
him to marry; he has, however, one resource 
left, if he does not wish to die a bachelor, 
and that is Mr. de Saint Roch, the provi- 
dence of the unmarried.” 

Every one must, at least, have heard of 
this eccentric and mysterious person, who 
assumed the title of “The Family Ambas- 
sador;” gloried in having been the originator 
of the “ profession of marriage making,” 
and flattered himsslf in having given mar- 
riage a new splendor, while rescuing it from 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


85 


the debased condition in which it had fallen. 

In view of these facts, the suggestion to 
Lorilleux to address himself to this re- 
nowned man occasioned a burst of 
laughter from all in the room, except the 
doctor, who remained immovable until it 
was over, when he said very seriously: 
“Why not ? but I would, first of all, like to 
know, if Mr. de Saint Roch has ever married 
any one.” 

“What !” replied the author of the sug- 
gestion, “have you the . audacity to doubt 
it ? You have never then read a news- 
paper in your life. Open the first one you 
see, and you will be satisfied. This cele- 
brated ambassador does not disdain at times 
to hire the fourth page of each of our five 
great journals. It is there that he shines 
in his glory; it is there that he announces 
to familes that he has, at their disposal, a 
large assortment of young ladies and widows, 
from sixteen to sixty years of age, all pos- 
sessed of the most desirable social advan- 
tages— wit, beauty, birth, and embellished 
with some millions of francs’ dowry.” 

“Oh !” replied Lorilleux, “I know all that 
perfectly well, and I have read that Mr. de 
Saint Roch is honored with the confidence 
of the first families of the nobility, the 
public officers, the army and the wealthy; 


86 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


that, even the princely families of Europe 
are in the habit of soliciting his good offices ; 
that those who address him must write 
their names legibly; but all this does not. 
convince me. I therefore renew my ques- 
tion : has he ever married any one ?” 

“Why, doctor, in Paris alone there are 
nearly a dozen negotiators of marriages.” 

“And what does that prove ?” 

“That they would not have stores, if they 
had not customers.” 

“I have seen stores without customers.” 

“In other words, my dear iEsculapius, you 
think that the originator of the profession 
of matrimony expends a hundred thousand 
francs a year, on the fourth page of our 
great journals, only for the sake of his pleas- 
ure and glory ?” 

This last remark seemed conclusive, 
and Lorilleux confessed that he was con- 
vinced; the conversation, however, con- 
tinued on the same subject: “Whom had 
Mr. de Saint Roch married, and when and 
where ? What was his method ?” But no 
one could answer any of these questions. 

At last, one of them said : ‘ ‘now, my 
friends, I will confess to you a weakness; 
I have many a time been on the point of 
writing to Mr. de Saint Roch.” 

“Good heavens !” exclaimed the doctor, 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


87 * 

what for ?-” 

“Out of curiosity.” 

“Upon my word,” said Pascal, “the same 
idea has flashed through my mind; that 
man puzzles me.” 

To this Lorilleux interposed: “You must 
not write, but go and see him. That would 
be more interesting indeed, and more in- 
structive.” 

“Well then,” said Pascal laughingly, 
“since this is your advice, I will gratify at 
once your curiosity and mine. I will go and 
see this mysterious person.” 

“That is truly a good project,” said the 
doctor, with a shrug of his shoulders; “ I 
will understand you better, if you do.” 

“Do you see any thing unbecoming in it?” 

“Oh ! not at all, if it will amuse you. The 
only impropriety that I find, is to go and 
see a man, only for the purpose of laughing 
at him. This childishness is not becoming 
to persons of our age.” 

But this disturber of their gayety was 
silenced, and all the friends said: “agreed; 
let Pascal go and reconoitre; and, if he is 
satisfied, all of us will at onca become the 
clients of Mr. de Saint Roch. 


*88 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


CHAPTER V. 

The founder of the matrimonial profession 
occupied, at the time of our narrative, the 
entire first floor of a magnificent building 
on the corner of two of the most beautiful 
streets in the district, called the Chaussee 
d’ Antin. His apartments contained sixteen 
front windows, the costly curtains of which 
gave to the passers by a fine idea of the in- 
terior splendor. 

The selection of such a house was a 
masterly stroke. It had two entrances, 
one on each of the streets, and a flight of 
stairs, from each entrance, conducted to the 
rooms of the Ambassador; but a careful in- 
spection would disclose another stairway 
which led, through a dark passage, to a 
third street. 

In his advertisements, Mr. de St. Rocli 
gave great importance to these three means 
of exit, as a guarantee of incognito to his 
clients. He was not vain, and did not 
desire his patrons to announce themselves 
with a trumpet; but on the other hand, in 
order to pave the way, and to serve as a pre- 
text for ladies and gentlemen, a well known 
milliner occupied the third floor, while a 
banking office was on the second, where 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


89 


pieces of coin might be heard clinking, as 
the visitor ascended the stairs. A very 
happy presage indeed ! 

This mysterious building was evidently 
guarded by a porter, or rather by two por- 
ters — from the simple fact that there were 
two doors — but they remained invisible. 
From the windows of their lodges no un- 
pleasant countenance was ever seen pro- 
truding, or an insolent voice ever heard, 
demanding of a visitor: “ where are you go- 
ing ?” Such a question might have been 
annoying. 

Signs, gilt letters on a black ground, took 
the place of the porters and gave better sat- 
isfaction. They took the stranger, as it 
were, by the hand, accompanied him up the 
stairs, and conducted him where he wished 
to go — to the banker’s, the milliner’s or the 
matrimonial ambassador’s. 

In this delightful building one could enter 
from either street as freely as if it were his 
own house. Thus Pascal entered it. By 
the direction of the fingers, painted on 
the wall, he ascended the stairs. At the 
head of the first flight were three doors, 
on each of which, in glittering letters, was 
the name of Mr. de St. Roch. 

Pascal rang one of the bells at random, 
which still vibrated when the door was 


00 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


opened, and he found himself in the presence 
of a stately servant, ensconced in more gilt 
lace than the beadle of a Cathedral. 

‘•Mr. de Saint Roch?” asked Pascal. 

“Sir, if you will take the trouble to follow 
me, 1 will conduct you,” was the very re- 
spectful reply of the servant; and, removing 
the damask curtain, he preceded the young 
man through a passage, covered and lighted 
with ground glass; a thick carpet muffled 
the sound of footsteps. 

As he proceeded, Pascal laughed to him- 
self as he thought of the conspicuous adver- 
tisements of the marriage agent — which 
pictured his house in such fantastic 
colors, with mysterious doors, private stair- 
cases, gloomy corridors — and found that 
everything corresponded to the description; 
he thought also that the domestics should 
be deaf and dumb. 

The servant finally introduced Pascal 
into a small saloon, hung with lilac colored 
reps of the most delicate shading, and said : 
“Sir, if you will be pleased to sit down, I will 
notify my master,” and, at the same time, 
touched the knob of a bell three times. 

“Will it be necessary for me to wait 
long ?” 

With a profound bow, the servant replied: 
“my master is notified that a gentleman 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


91 


awaits him in the lilac saloon. My master, 
sir, will not detain you long and, bowing 
again, he withdrew on tiptoe, discreetly 
closing the door. 

“The deuce !” thought Pascal, “it appears 
that there are saloons in all colors. Let me 
examine this one.” 

This lilac saloon was, to speak the truth, a 
little wonder of misapplied luxury, and rich- 
ness in bad taste. A woman, dealing in 
fancy toilet articles, would have been 
dazzled by it. Every thing in it was gilded, 
from the arms of the chairs to the rose-work 
of the ceiling. The tapestry of the furniture 
was hand-embroidered, no two pieces being 
alike. The carpet was a master-piece of the 
most grotesque figures, and must have re- 
presented the toilet of Madame de Pompa- 
dour, or something which the maker alone 
could define. The remainder was all in 
keeping. That, however, which gave a 
peculiar effect to the lilac saloon, was the 
number of all kinds of paintings hanging 
on the panels, and the incredible number of 
little things arrayed on the mantle-piece, on 
the tables and on the etageres. 

Every thing was displayed there: bronzes, 
plasters, marbles, china and carvings in 
wood. A bric-a-brac store can alone give 
some idea of this profusion of art objects. 


92 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


But what objects of art ! Things unheard 
of, prodigious statuettes that made you 
tremble, and paintings that made you 
shudder. One good picture, three passable 
ones, some bronzes of Barbedienne that 
might find favor, but, as to all the rest — ! 

Pascal, astonished, examined this wretch- 
ed collection; under each object was a label 
and a motto. One of them read: “To our 
good friend;” another: “To the author of 
my happiness;” another: “A souvenir of a 
happy mother;” and another: “A token of 
gratitude.” These objects of art were evi- 
dently gifts, but from whom ? 

The subject depicted by the clock was the 
statue of love, chubby faced, and blowing 
with all the force of his lungs over a pan of 
coals. Beneath this Cupid was engraved 
the motto: “Thus will always be our flame!” 

Pascal was lost in revery. Hq. stood 
amazed before this image of love and flame, 
when a door was softly opened, and the 
matrimonial ambassador himself appeared 
on the threshold. 

He was a short, plump, and fresh looking 
man, whom it was a pleasure to look at. The 
lilies and rcses, sold by the perfumers, 
bloomed on his cheeks, which were scrupu- 
lously shaved. His mouth with a perpetual 
smile displayed a row of fine white pearls, the 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


93 


perfection of dental art. His eye showed the 
sweetest mirthfulness. He was a coxcomb 
who took the best of care of himself, per- 
fumed, exhaling the most penetrating odors. 
If he moved or made a gesture, it seemed 
as if a scent bag had been shaken. He had 
all the youthful graces of one of Watteau’s 
shepherds. 

He seated himself with great deliberation 
and display. Yestris would have liked him 
for the style of his tread, for it was that of 
the god of the minuet himself. His vest, 
under which was another of a different color, 
made one think of the First Empire, and he 
wore a blue swallow-tail, with carved gold 
buttons. He had given up the knee breeches, 
but diamond buckles still adorned his pumps 
of beaver, which enclosed his large feet, and 
ruffles of mechlin lace half concealed his 
plump, white hands. 

He had a great passion for jewelry. All 
his person was resplendent as a Decem- 
ber night, and he wore rings on all his 
fingers. When he threw back his coat, 
every body could see pins, buttons, and 
studs adorning, like a constellation, his 
cravat, his shirt bosom and his frills. Chains 
of gold fell in triple cascades from the folds 
of his vest. He never carried less than 
three watches, the trinkets of which could 


94 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


have made a little museum. He did not 
wear ear rings, however, but his blonde and 
curled wig was a marvel to look at. 

Such was his radiance, when he made his 
appearance in the saloon, that Pascal was 
dazzled. He did not, however, appear too 
proud of the effect he produced. His vanity 
on this point must have been already sur- 
feited. But as the surprise of his new 
client much resembled a greatly exaggerated 
timidity, he undertook to reassure him, and 
with an enchanting voice uttered these 
simple words: “Sir, I perceive that you are 
in contemplation before my votive offer- 
ings. ” 

“Votive offerings !” repeated Pascal, like 
an echo. 

“If I make use of this expression,” con- 
tinued this illustrious negotiator, “it is 
because all these are the offerings of grati- 
tude. It was while thinking of me that 
friendly hands embroidered these arm 
chairs. These bronzes, these paintings are 
the pledges of an imperishable remem- 
brance.” 

Pascal bowed. He lacked words to ex- 
press his amazement. 

‘‘Thus,” continued the ambassador, in a 
voice softened with emotion, “I like to sur- 
round myself with these pious gifts. They 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


95 


are my dearest treasures, the most precious 
reward of my labors; but I assure you that 
all are not here. I have seven other saloons, 
as profusely furnished as this one.” 

“Sir,” said Pascal, “I perceive that you 
must have married a great many people.” 

‘‘The third of France, or very nearly,” 
answered Mr. de Saint Roch, with an air of 
modesty. “Many are not aware of it; many 
have forgotten me.” 

“Is it possible?” responded Pascal. 

“Such at least is the fact. Ah ! sir,” and 
the ambassador seemed to be overcome with 
emotion, “I have met with a great many 
thankless persons! They have calumniated 
my purest intentions and have begun 
lawsuits; but I have the judgments and de- 
crees of the court in my favor, which I have 
taken the precaution to have printed, to- 
gether with the speeches of the attorneys. 
I have the opinions of counsellors which 
confirm the moralitv, and the legality of my 
acts. I still have many — But are not these 
presents, which you see here, the most elo- 
quent of all pleading, the most glorious 
eulogy possible ?” 

“Sir,” Pascal attempted to say, “I have 
never had an idea of contesting—” 

“Happily,” continued Mr. de Saint Roch, 
“all are not ungrateful in this world. Be- 


96 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


hold that little group yonder; it was sent me 
this morning by a young couple whom I 
brought together last year. For this paint- 
ing/’ pointing to a picture on the wall, “I 
am indebted to a young man and his wife, 
whose union I negotiated about six years 
ago, and it gives me great satisfaction; be- 
cause they have just had their fifth child, 
and have chosen me for the god-father. 
How many couple have preserved my 
memory within their inmost hearts ! They 
write to me, and give me an account of 
every happy incident of their lives; and, if 
there occurs any little misunderstanding in 
their domestic circle, they call on me as 
their umpire, and I soon re-establish peace.” 

“These facts,” said Pascal, “are credit- 
able to any man.” 

“And to a profession also, sir,” inter- 
posed Mr. de Saint Roch, and continued: 
“Ah! if time were not so brief, I would un- 
dertake, after having kindled the torch of 
marriage, to keep its flame forever pure and 
brilliant. And what would be necessary ? 
An insurance bureau to provide for family 
disagreements, and husband and wife both 
should submit their grievances to a jury 
composed of both sexes. After the verdict 
had been rendered, skillful negotiatiors 
would influence the one at fault to yield to 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


97 


reason. But, I beg pardon; I am trespass- 
ing upon your time; will you be so kind as 
to step into my private room ?” 

This astonishing man then bowed very 
low, and, with the flexible grace of a dancing 
teacher, made way for Pascal to precede 
him. The private apartment of Mr. de Saint 
Roch bore a striking resemblance to a labo- 
ratory, where any variety of business is 
transacted. Had it not been so scrupulously 
free from dirt and dust, a lawyer would 
have felt at home in it. The servants of the 
ambassador carefully wiped off the gildings 
of the numerous paintings, and brushed 
away every trace of cobwebs. 

The ambassador deigned, with his own 
hand, to proffer an arm-chair to his young 
client, while he seated himself before a large 
bureau, covered with documents, and 
packages of papers tied with red tape. 

“Sir,” said Pascal, “I have come to see 
you, because I wish to marry.” 

“Well, sir, well, very well!” answered 
Mr. de Saint Roch, “that is a capital idea. 
Marriage, sir, is the true end of man. I 
can speak to you about it understandingly, 
because I have a right to consider myself 
its renewer. In accordance with the divine 
injunction, I say: Take to thyself a wife.’ 
And, if I am not myself the father of a 

13 


98 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


family, it is because I exercise the functions 
of a threefold and holy priesthood. I am con- 
secrated to celibacy, and, as a confessor, 
carry in my heart too many secrets not to 
dread and flee from the presence of a beloved 
wife.” 

“If this is the case, I have full confi- 
dence.” 

“Honesty and discretion, sir, is my motto. 
Ah! sir, you are right, a thousand times 
right, in addressing yourself to me. Can you 
tell me how marriages are usually made? I 
do not refer to the exceptions. They are by 
chance, through a friend, a relation, or 
simply an acquaintance! Old women have a 
passion for making matches. Oh ! these old 
women! But what guarantee do they give ? 
What assurance ? You marry confidingly, 
with your eyes closed. If you are delicate, 
they work on your weakness : they promise 
you mountains of gold, but you get nothing. 
You are engaged, and a false shame con- 
trols you; you are furious, but you dare not 
say: “Ho.” 

Pascal here made a gesture of denial, but 
Mr. de Saint Roch continued: 

“I know there are exceptions; but with 
me there are never surprises or deceptions. 
That which honors my actions, sir; that 
which distinguishes them, is that you can 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


99 


always verify, through your Notary, the 
papers and the documents which I furnish; 
and this you may do, before you engage 
yourself. Hence my reputation is beyond 
comparison. ” 

“Very well, sir,” interrupted Pascal; 
“but is it not time to come back to busi- 
ness ?” 

“We are now ready for it; but I thought 
it advisable, my dear sir, to give you these 
necessary explanations.” And here the in- 
terrogations began. Pascal was asked his 
name, profession, family, abode, fortune, 
character, and other minute details. 
Nothing was omitted by the ambassador, 
who made memoranda of all the answers. 

When he had concluded his inquiries, he 
said: “Now, my dear sir, you can sleep in 
peace; I will find a good match to suit 
you, and will do it before very long.” 

“How,” responded Pascal surprised, “be- 
fore very long ? I supposed it would be im- 
mediately. ” 

“Oh!” said the ambassador, who appeared 
greatly shocked, ‘ ‘how very quick you are- ! 
Ah ! impetuous youth;” continued he in a 
a playful tone, “you believe that marriages 
are made — ” 

“I beg pardon, I supposed — ” 

“That I had in a bandbox some one who 


100 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


would suit you for a wife ? But let us 
be in earnest. This is Thursday : come next 
Wednesday, and you will see what I have 
done for you.” 

Mr. de Saint Roch immediately arose, 
and the interview terminated. At this 
moment a bell tingled four times. “Ah! said 
the ambassador, some one waits for me in 
the pink saloon.” 

“On Wednesday then,” said Pascal, as he 
passed toward the door. 

Mr. de Saint Roch stopped him with his 
hand upraised, saying: “Rot that way, not 
that way; no indeed; you might meet some 
one. My house is arranged so that no one 
can meet another. I can receive twenty 
different persons in it at once, and yet each 
would think he was alone. Come this way;” 
and, opening a door concealed by tapestry, 
he committed Pascal to the care of a ser- 
vant, who conducted him to the street by 
an obscure passage. 

On the evening of this visit, Pascal related 
the adventure to his friends, without 
omitting the slightest incident. No narra- 
tive was ever better received; but this was 
only the first act, and each of his hearers 
urged the young engineer to go on with it. 
Lorilleux himself, who had been greatly 
pleased with the matrimonial exhortation of 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


101 


Mr. de Saint Roch, joined in the request. 

Pascal, accordingly, kept his appointment. 
On his second visit, he was requested to wait 
in an apple-green colored saloon, which was 
similar in all its appurtenances to the lilac 
saloon, except in the color. But he had not 
time to become impatient, as Mr. de Saint 
Roch presented himself almost immediately. 

But how different this reception from the 
former ! Pascal was received as a son, who 
had been looked for with eagerness. The 
ambassador certainly gave him a very warm 
reception, saying: “Well, well, I have 
thought of you. You are a very honest 
young man and I congratulate you. Why 
do not all my clients resemble you ?” 

“How do you mean ? In what ?” 

“You are altogether too modest, my dear 
child. You have concealed from me a part 
of your fortune. Why did you tell me that 
your father had an income of only ten thou- 
sand francs, and possessed an office worth 
forty thousand ? His office is worth ninety 
thousand francs, and his income nearly 
twenty thousand francs. His farm at 
Kerpris yields to him twelve thousand 
francs a year. He has near Guingamp 
magnificent tracts of timber, and wide 
meadows along the Trieux. 

Ho man could be more astounded than 


102 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


Pascal, at the recital of these details : 
“What !” thought he, “a stranger knows, 
better than myself, my own affairs ? 
Where the deuce has this man procured 
such information?” 

“This is not all,” continued the founder of 
the bureau of matrimonial alliances ; you 
told me that your personal fortune was three 
hundred thousand francs. You possess 
much more than this. Dr. Lorilleux has 
frequently said that you possess double this 
amount: and your partner, Mr. Lantier, 
estimates you to be worth four hundred and 
fifty thousand francs.” 

“Zounds!” ejaculated Pascal, “how do you 
know all this ?” 

“Ah! ha!” said Mr. de Saint Roch, laugh- 
ingly, “I have ways of finding out these 
things. ” 

“Sir !” 

“Don't get angry. Do you think I marry 
people without knowing what I am doing ? 
This would be a bad business indeed ! I 
wish you to understand that I do not over- 
look any of the details in connection with 
my clients. I know all the particulars of 
your life better than even your best friend, 
Dr. Lorilleux. Thus, I could tell you what 
you have concealed from him: why you 
handed in your resignation six years ago.” 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


103 


“Oh! as for that — ” 

“Now, my dear sir, you resigned because 
you were about to be nominated for an ap- 
pointment out of Paris, and at that time you 
would not leave the city on any account. 
A love affair — ” 

Pascal’s whole face flushed. He was 
slightly alarmed. “How is this ?” thought 
he. “This man must be a sorcerer, or an 
employee of the Prefecture of Police.” He 
now regretted having gone so far, and was 
almost angry. 

“I know that all that has long ended,” 
said Mr. de Saint Roch. “Besides, you need 
not be at all uneasy. My house, as I told 
you, is a confessional. Afraid of the im- 
mense responsibility which rests on me, I 
have always been too discreet even to train 
a pupil. I will carry my secrets with me to 
the grave; practice, notes, correspondence, 
titles, all will die with me, and then the 
matrimonial profession will fall back into 
infancy and dishonor.” 

These last words were pronounced in a 
faltering voice, his painted face exhibiting 
profound regret. 

Pascal knew not whether to laugh, or to 
be angry: “Is he a quack, or a man of con- 
viction? What a comedian !” thought the 
young man. Gradually, however, the 


104 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


habitual smile returned to the lips of this 
peculiar person. 

‘‘Now, let us speak of yourself,” said he. 
“You are a fine looking young man, wealthy, 
lively; you can be married very easily, and 
the business will soon be transacted. 
Answer me as you would your confessor — 
Do you wish to marry as a speculation ? 
Do you wish much money ? 

“Money is a good thing ; I do not despise 
it, but I wish to love the woman I marry,” 
said Pascal. 

“Very well, you are right; sometimes I 
am compelled to lend myself to speculation, 
but this always pains me. We will there- 
fore speak of a fortune corresponding to 
your own, and of a woman whom you can 
love.” 

“You have expressed my wishes.” ' 

Mr. de Saint Roch arose, and taking an 
enormous register opened it on his desk. 

“I have in this,” said he, striking the 
book, “the richest fortunes of France, and of 
other countries, supported by their docu- 
mentary evidence.” 

Pascal advanced to get a glimpse of this 
repertory of all these heiresses of Europe. 

“You may look,” said the ambassador, 
“but you will not understand any thing in it. 
All my records are written in hieroglyphics, 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


105 


of which I alone have the key.” 

While so speaking, he turned over the 
leaves briskly, saying: “One and a half 
million francs — this is too much; one hun- 
dred thousand francs — not enough. In the 
first case, one must be a noble, at least a 
baron; in the second, a military man. 
There are some odd parents! Ah ! I have it, 
perhaps; one million ready money, a widow 
fifty three years old. ” 

“Much obliged,” interrupted Pascal. 

“Let us look farther,” continued Mr. de 
Saint Eoch. “Here the party wishes that 
the husband shall continue to direct a 
manufactory — This young lady insists that 
her future husband must not smoke — and 
asks that, while she is penniless ! This other 
will only marry a man of light complexion, 
and you are dark : she has, however, a fine 
fortune, and is one of my best clients, having 
married three times, and always through 
my care; she is twenty -nine years of age, has 
five children — ” 

“Proceed;” said Pascal. 

“Here, perhaps, is one that will suit you; 
her dowry is two hundred thousand francs : 
she is eighteen years of age; has received 
an excellent education; her parents are hon- 
orable.” 

“She might answer.” 

14 


106 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


“So much the more, since I have only 
named the ready money. There are bright 
prospects, very bright, magnificent. Her 
mother, whose health is deplorable, is ad- 
vanced in years — you understand — and all 
the fortune is on her side. As to the young 
lady, she is very fine looking indeed; impos- 
ing, well made, of light complexion; but, if 
I must speak the truth, I believe she is of 
unequal temper; servants never remain 
longer than two months in her house.” 

“The deuce !” 

“Yes; when one marries, it is for a longer 
period. The parents exact that their son-in- 
law shall live with them — ” 

“Then, I thank you; and, moreover, I 
must confess that I do not like blondes.” 

“Very well, said Mr. de Saint Roch, and 
continued his review. “ Ah !” he exclaimed : 
“this time I have hit it. The young lady 
is charming and of dark complexion. She 
is twenty years of age and has never 
been at a boarding school; her education, 
however, is excellent. Her mother is some- 
what exacting, but the young lady has the 
best of temper; she is amiable, lively, 
sprightly, perhaps a little' childish, but not a 
coquette, and she knows how to keep house. 
Her father is an old manufacturer of 
Roubaix, who retired from business three 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


107 


years ago; a good and excellent man, 
and by no means troublesome. He is pos- 
sessed of a great fortune indeed — in real 
estate, believe me, nearly a million — and 
his daughter will have some day five hun- 
dred thousand francs.” 

“Let us stop here,” said Pascal, “it will 
be difficult to find any thing better.” 

“That is so,” said Mr. de Saint Koch, “the 
young lady will certainly please you. I 
cannot, however, warrant qver fifty thou- 
sand francs, as her dowry; her father is 
rather close.” 

“That is of little consequence,” said Pas- 
cal. “I have told you my preference; I will 
not exact too much. And now, what is 
this young lady’s name ? When can I see 
her ?” 

“Patience,” said Mr. de Saint Koch; “you 
will know her name in due time. It will not 
be long, before you are introduced to her. 
There remains but one formality to fulfill — 
the simplest in the world.” .Mr. de Saint 
Roch then presented a small piece of paper 
to his new client, begging him to sign it. 
It obliged Pascal to pay over to Mr. de Saint 
Roch five per cent of the dowry, the day 

after his marriage with Miss (a blank 

space being left for the name.) 

“Ah! this paper shows his true aim ! Shall 


108 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


I sign it ? Pshaw ! I do not believe it will 
ever cost me a sou,” were the thoughts of 
Pascal, as, in his most beautiful penman- 
ship, he wrote his name at the bottom of 
the paper. 

Mr. de Saint Roch, in turn, took the pen, 
and placed his signature by the side of Pas- 
cal’s, and then he wrote the name of 
Antoinette Gerbeau, in the blank space 
of the contract. 

“Antoinette!” said Pascal; “I like the 
name very well.” 

“It is a good omen,” graciously replied 
Mr. de Saint Roch, and continued: “you 
will soon hear from me.” He then con- 
ducted his client to the door with the same 
formality, as at the previous interview. 

The details of this second visit were still 
more enlivening to the friends of the young- 
engineer, except towards the close ; because 
the signing of the document did not at all 
commend itself to them. The man of busi- 
ness appeared too visible under the blue 
dress of the marriage commissioner. 1ST early 
all those young men affirmed that they 
certainly would not have left their signa- 
tures in the hands of that mysterious man, 
and declared that Mr. de Saint Roch should 
never have their patronage. 

Lorilleux availed himself of these expres- 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


109 


sions to return to his favorite topic, and to 
repeat with more assurance, that this am- 
bassador had never married any one. All 
shared in his opinion, and, since he still 
continued to show a desire to marry, they 
urged him to address himself elsewhere. 


CHAPTER VI. 


Three days had passed since Pascal had 
greeted, as he supposed, for the last time, 
Mr. de Saint Roch; and, during all this while, 
he had thought but little about the matri- 
monial ambassador. But on the evening of 
the third day, on reaching home, his servant 
handed him a letter which had been left in 
the morning. Pascal took it and read: 

“Dear Sir: 

I have just received notice 
that an excellent opportunity is presented 
for you to see Miss Gerbeau. My excellent 
friend, the Chevalier de Jeuflas, will call 
this evening, at precisely nine o’clock, to 
accompany you to a ball, where you will 
meet this young lady. I shall be distressed, 


110 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


if my letter does not reach you in season, 
for you may not very soon have a similar 
opportunity, as the young lady goes out so 
seldom. 

I beg you, dear sir and client, to believe 
me 

Y our most devoted friend, 

J. D. DE SAINT ROCHA 

'‘The deuce!” said Pascal to himself, "at 
nine o’clock ! I have only time to fly, if I 
would avoid this Chevalier,” .for it wants 
only a few minutes to nine.” 

But at this instant, the servant announced: 
"the Chevalier de Jeuflas.” 

The Chevalier was a man of the best 
society, courteous, refined, and accom- 
plished. It would have been difficult to 
assign to him any age. He must have been 
between thirty and sixty-five. It was ap- 
parent that he had an excellent tailor; two or 
three decorations, one of which was of a 
light chestnut color, dangled at his breast. 
In his speech he lisped slightly. 

Mr. de Jeuflas was not at all embarrassed 
in introducing himself to a stranger. 
He greeted Pascal courteously, saying: 
"Sir, a friend of mine, who has a peculiar 
regard for you, has told me of your desire 
to go into society. I will consider myself 
highly honored to introduce you — who are 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


Ill 


so accomplished a gentleman— dnto the few 
houses in which I am received.” 

The Chevalier’s posture, gesture and tone 
were faultless. Pascal observed all this, 
while confusedly offering his excuses. He 
explained that, having reached home only 
a few minutes before, he had not known of 
the coming of the Chevalier, until the in- 
stant of his appearance. In fact, he was 
not only perplexed, but he hesitated about 
accompanying this friend of Mr. de Saint 
Koch. “I am not ready, sir,” he said, “and 
I should fear to abuse your courtesy.” 

“Oh! let not that disturb you,” replied the 
Chevalier, “we are not pressed for time, and 
I can wait your convenience.” 

Curiosity triumphed, and Pascal, after a 
little further ceremony, decided to go with 
Mr. de Jeuflas. At the same time, however, 
he thought that, while he went to dress him- 
self, his visitor might get impatient; he 
therefore offered him cigars, which the* 
Chevalier declined, confessing that, though 
he liked a good cigar occasionally, he never 
smoked when he was going into a saloon 
where ladies were. 

While dressing, Pascal said to himself: 
“where the deuce does Mr. de Saint Roch 
fish up such associates ? He is, however, 
a very fine gentleman; only gentlemen and 


112 


A CHANGE MARRIAGE. 


hair-dressers are left nowadays who re- 
frain form the use of tobacco, when they 
call on a lady ; evidently the Chevalier is a 
nobleman. Well, the plot is getting com- 
plicated; no matter.” 

The Chevalier had his carriage, and, when 
seated by the side of Pascal, he said: “This 
evening we will go to the residence of an 
old magistrate, one of my most influential 
friends, who gives three or four dancing 
soirees every winter. It is a nice and agree- 
able house, where, I am sure, you will be 
pleased.” 

Judging from the manner in which the 
mistress of the house received him — on 
being introduced by Mr. de Jeuflas, as one of 
his best and oldest friends — Pascal perceived 
that the Chevalier was much esteemed, and, 
still more, loved. And to this singular re- 
commendation Pascal attributed such a 
friendly and gracious welcome, which is 
usually reserved for favorite guests. 

As to the house, it was really as this as- 
sociate of Mr. de Saint Roch had described it. 

Pascal was relieved of much uneasiness. 
He had not feared an affront, but he had 
been in great apprehension of being taken 
to some doubtful resort. 

“After this introduction, Mr. de Jeuflas 
took his new friend aside, and, in the most 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


113 


disinterested tone said: “See yonder/’ in- 
dicating the direction with a motion, “in 
the seat very near the window, that pretty 
young lady, in the first tier, the third beyond 
the curtain — yes, there. Do you not think 
she is bewitching ? Her name is Miss An- 
toinette Gerbeau. I think very much of 
her father; her mother is the most perfect 
pattern of all virtues. I am one of their 
most intimate friends on saying this, he 
left the young man to his own reflections. 

Pascal would have been difficult to please, 
if he had been of a different opinion from 
the Chevalier. Miss Gerbeau was certainly 
an admirable young lady; thick dark hair 
set off her face, giving it a charming ex- 
pression, and enhancing the whiteness of her 
complexion; her mouth was restless and 
smiling; her great black eyes sparkled with 
mischief and gayety. At this time a 
waltz was in progress, and she doubtless 
regretted that she was seated. How and 
then she turned to her mother, behind her, 
as if to reproach her for having deprived 
her of a great pleasure ! 

“Mr. de Saint Roch has not deceived me,” 
thought Pascal. But at this moment, in the 
presence of this most beautiful young lady, 
the recollection of the matrimonial ambas- 
sador made him uneasy. He would have 

15 


114 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


gladly forgotten him entirely, and wished 
that he had been indebted to chance alone 
for the privilege of admiring such a per- 
fectly beautiful creature. 

“I will, however, go and invite her to 
dance,” said he to himself ; and making a 
tour close to the seats of the saloon, so as 
not to interfere with the dancers, he reached 
the place where Miss Gerbeau was seated. 

She was engaged for all the quadrilles, 
except the next one. Nobody had thought 
of asking her, as every one supposed she 
had been engaged. She was apparently 
uneasy on this account, and so Pascal was 
heartily welcomed — not because he was 
either particularly witty or handsome, but 
because he was the wished for partner. 

Pascal did not care for dancing: he thought 
the modern quadrille was a ridiculous 
amusement, and yet he felt that the one 
he had danced with Miss Gerbeau was too 
short. It is true that he would have been 
greatly embarrassed to give a reason for it. 
His conversation with the young lady had 
not been very interesting. Between the 
figures, he had whispered a few airy noth- 
ings, which gentlemen are in the habit of 
saying, and Miss Gerbeau had murmured a 
few monosyllables— that was all. 

And yet, when the orchestra ceased. Pas- 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


115 


cal desired to cry out “encore !” though he 
was quite out of breath, having repeated the 
ritornellos, selected from the opera in vogue, 
or for some of Beaumann’s melodies. He 
conducted Miss Gerbeau to her seat by the 
longest route, for the pleasure of feeling her 
leaning upon his arm, and on the way he 
begged her to dance a mazurka with him, 
since she was engaged for all the qua- 
drilles. 

“I do not dance the mazurka,, sir” said 
she, with an air slightly touched with 
melancholy. 

“I beg of you,” insisted Pascal, “to allow 
me to solicit this favor in the presence of 
your mother; I am sure she will not refuse 
me.” 

She raised her eyes to Pascal, and blushed, 
on perceiving that he had guessed her wish. 
She greatly desired to dance this enticing 
mazurka, but her mother was opposed to 
it inflexibly. In a very low tone, having 
but little hope in an attempt which had fre- 
quently failed, she said: “I would like it 
very much.” Our friend Pascal was indeed 
very eloquent in pleading his cause with 
Madame Gerbeau, and he carried off her 
consent easily. This was, however, no 
slight matter with her, because she had 
fixed principles, and did not surrender them 


116 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


willingly. Up to that day she had affirmed, 
as all knew, that her daughter never, never 
should mingle in those unbecoming dances, 
in which a young man is permitted to en- 
circle with his arm the waist of a young 
lady. 

Yes, she had affirmed it, and declared it 
from the ‘ ‘house top;" it was the first article 
in the maternal charter, made the first time 
she ever took her daughter to a ball, and 
that all the world knew. When, therefore, 
Miss Antoinette was seen dancing the 
mazurka with this fine looking young man, 
whom no one knew, every one thought there 
was something going on , and that the happy 
dancer would be the future husband. 

Pascal acted like a hero; he danced several 
quadrilles with other young ladies, hoping 
thereby to deserve another mazurka; but. 
at about two o’clock in the morning, when 
he looked for Madame Gerbeau to gain her 
second consent, she had disappeared. His 
disappointment was intense, and he regretted 
all the exercise he had taken for nothing. 
He now remembered, for the first time, his 
introducer, and had some trouble in finding 
him; but finally discovered him in a saloon 
where they were playing. The Chevalier 
de Jeuflas was seated at an ecarte table 
and was winning. He was no longer the 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


117 


same cool man. His face expressed an im- 
passioned, though restrained joy. His 
glance was brilliant and darted forth vivid 
rays, as the gold was heaped up before him. 

“I now see the secret,” said Pascal to 
himself; “this man is a gambler. It is by 
this means that Mr. de Saint Roch holds 
him. Wretched man ! what a servitude !” 

The Chevalier, on seeing his protege, 
made him a friendly sign, and appeared to 
say: “wait a minute.” From this moment, 
his mind was no longer on the game; his 
countenance assumed its former calm ex- 
pression; his eyes became dull, and, as soon 
as he could leave the table, he arose and 
joined Pascal. 

“Well, well !” asked he, not without some 
anxiety, which was perceptible in his eyes. 

“I am delighted,” replied the young man, 
bewitched and under a charm. “Never 
before have I seen so charming a young 
lady.” 

“ She is very charming indeed !” said the 
Chevalier, with a satisfaction as apparent 
as his anxiety, and continued: “Well, well, 
1 would have wagered it. Do you wish me 
to introduce you to her father, who, as I 
told you, is a particular friend of mine ?” 

“I would like it very much," replied Pas- 
cal, “but I believe the ladies have left." 


118 


A CHANCE MAKKIAGE. 


The Chevalier drew out his watch, and 
remarked: “It will soon be three o'clock; it 
is really too late; these ladies always leave 
at two o’clock. Madame Gerbeau is inflex- 
ible, except towards you. It must be that 
you pleased her very much. 

“How !” asked Pascal, “that mazurka ?” 

“If you were acquainted with her, you 
would appreciate the great favor she con- 
ferred, in granting you that mazurka. 
But, tell me, are you unoccupied for the 
morning?” 

“Why ?” 

“I will have you breakfast with Mr. Ger- 
bau.” 

‘ T am free as the air,” replied Pascal. 

“Very well; to-morrow, or rather to-day, 
at eleven o’clock precisely, be walking in 
the 'Passage Jouffroy, where I will meet 
you, as if by chance,” said the Chevalier. 

“I will be there, rely on it,” said Pascal. 

At three minutes past eleven o’clock, 
Pascal was walking for the second time in 
the 'Passage Jouffroy, when he saw in the 
distance the Chevalier de Jeuflas, giving 
his arm to a man about sixty, with a very 
prosperous look and a benign countenance. 
It was Mr. Gerbeau. 

The Chevalier appeared delighted to meet 
his friend, and stated to him that he 


A CHANCE MAKKIACrE. 


119 


had gone this morning to draw his old friend 
Gerbeau from his occupations, and, in brief, 
invited him to go and breakfast with them. 
Pascal accepted, with evident pleasure. On 
the way, although the distance was short, 
Mr. de Jeuflas, found the means of whisper- 
ing in the ear of Mr. Gerbeau Pascal’s entire 
biography, so that when they reached the 
door of the restaurant, the manufacturer 
knew that he was to* breakfast with a 
charming young man, as remarkable for his 
manners as for his ability; an old pupil of 
the Polytechnic school; belonging to an 
honorable and wealthy family, and posses- 
sing a personal fortune of four hundred 
thousand francs. 

The Chevalier said all this between two 
whiffs of his cigar, for he smoked in the 
morning. His words certainly were not 
lost. The fruits had not yet been served, 
before Pascal had captivated the father of 
Antoinette. When the coffee was served, 
the conquest was complete. 

Mr. Gerbeau, a very skillful manufact- 
urer, was only a passable connoisseur of 
houses. For the last eighteen months, he had 
been involved in a bad enterprise. Sud- 
denly seized with the passion for building 
— a passion which has troubled the brain of 
so many unfortunate persons of indepen- 


120 


A CHANCE MAKK1AGE. 


dence — he, in an evil hour, determined to 
sell the property he had in Saintonge, in 
order to purchase land in Paris. On this 
piece of land, acquired through other parties 
and at a very high figure, he had had the no 
less unfortunate idea of erecting buildings. 
For persons without experience, a house in 
the progress of erection is something beyond 
their comprehension, and they can form no 
just estimate of its .expense. This was the 
condition of Mr. Gerbeau, who instinct- 
ively imagined that he was robbed. But 
by whom ? How ? He was most uneasy 3 
because he had the vague conviction that it 
is with speculation, as it is with the gear of 
a machine; if your finger is caught in one 
of the wheels, you must soon suffer the 
amputation of your arm, unless you prefer 
to have your whole body follow the finger^ 
In speculation one check leads to another 
and the capital is soon exhausted. 

Mr. Gerbeau related his misfortunes to 
Pascal, who promised to extricate him, at a 
sacrifice, if absolutely necessary, but by 
making the loss as slight as possible. 

He made his word good, and after eight 
days of running hitherand thither, of pro- 
ceedings, and calculations, the young en- 
gineer enabled the manufacturer to see 
clearly into his business. This little experi- 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


121 


ence cost Mr. Gerbeau fully sixty thousand 
francs. He saw, with a shudder, the depth 
of the abyss into which he had come so 
near falling; he understood that, without 
Pascal, he would have been ruined, and his 
gratitude was great. 

All these proceedings, and the necessary 
course to be pursued, obliged Pascal to visit 
Mr. Gerbeau very often after their first in- 
terview. He was repeatedly invited to dine 
with the family, and thus had frequent op- 
portunities of seeing Miss Antoinette; far, 
however, from losing his first impression, 
he was more and more captivated by her 
charms. 

He found in this family the odor of 
honesty, happiness and comfort, which 
recalled to his mind the sweet memories of 
his own family. He imagined his own 
mother in Madame Gerbeau, who was dig- 
nified, without rigidity; tender, without be- 
ing feeble. In a word, he felt that he loved 
Antoinette. 

And, just at this point, he desired very 
much to see the matrimonial ambassador 
descend into the grave, and buried with all 
his secrets, titles, acts and registers written 
in hieroglyphics. The shadow of the im- 
pressive and paternal Mr. de Saint Roch — 
more terrible and more painted than that of 

16 


122 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


Jezabel — pursued him. He did not wish to 
curse him, because, after all, it was to him he 
owed his acquaintance with her whom he 
loved, but, oh! how willingly would he have 
annihilated him! He now remembered his 
signature, in very legible characters, at 
the end of an agreement. This agreement 
stood out before his eyes in characters of 
fire; it seemed to him as if it were a com- 
pact with the devil. And, as to that terri- 
ble Chevalier de Jeuflas, he was another 
demon, another cause of remorse, and, per- 
haps, appeared more frightful to him, be- 
cause the ambassador but seldom left his 
splendid apartments, while he met the 
Chevalier at every step, and he was a 
friend of the family in which he would 
enter. Would he not assist at the mar- 
riage ? On that day, doubtless, a devilish 
smile would play on his lips. 

Oh! how freely would Pascal have given 
the half of all his possessions, had he be- 
come acquainted with Antoinette, without 
ever having known either of these accom- 
plices to the agreement! He had no one to 
whom he could go with his troubles, no one 
to consult. Hot for all the world would 
Pascal have wished his best friend Lorilleux 
to know the situation. He trembled at the 
simple idea that any one should ever learn 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


123 


that he married through the agency of Mr. 
de Saint Rock. 

It was, however, necessary for him to de- 
cide, and he confessed to Mr. Gerbeau that 
he was in love with his daughter. The 
manufacturer was delighted with this 
avowal, and asked only for a few days in 
which to consult his wife and daughter. 

The answer was favorable, and, three 
days after his declaration, he was permitted 
to pay his addresses openly to Antoinette. 
But to whom was he indebted for this 
prompt decision, which crowned the dearest 
wish of his heart ? To the Chevalier de 
Jeuflas, who, to save time in looking up re- 
ferences, had answered, by his own head, 
for his young friend; to the Chevalier de 
Jeuflas, who, through one whole afternoon, 
closeted with Madame Gerbeau, had sung 
the praises of his protege — having entered 
into the most minute details, so important 
to a mother greatly concerned for the hap- 
piness of her daughter; to the Chevalier de 
Jeuflas, who had related to her the daily 
life of the young engineer; to the Chevalier 
de Jeuflas, who had spoken of the family of 
Pascal as if he had been acquainted with it 
for the last twenty years, and who had 
drawn the most flattering and accurate 
portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Divorne. It is 


124 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


very true that the Chevalier had only spoken 
the truth, but the idea of owing his happi- 
ness to such a man ! To be his accomplice! 
— because, after all, he had actually lied, 
since he had advanced ideas of which he 
was not confident, facts of which he was 
ignorant — what a torture, and what a 
shame ! 

Pascal did not exactly know whether he 
was enraged, or at the height of his joy. 


CHAPTER VII. 


For fifteen days Pascal, who was pro- 
verbially domestic, did not occupy his 
apartments. His friends called, but did not 
find him. The servant invariably had the 
same answer: “My master is out, and will 
not return to-night.” John Lantier sought 
his partner in vain on business which, he 
said, would not admit of delay. 

Lorilleux was lost in conjectures, and 
dying from anxiety. 

This could not last long, and one evening 
Lantier and Lorilleux, intent on the same 
purpose, waited for Pascal in his apart- 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


125 


ments, until after ten o’clock. John Lantier, 
urged by his wife, wished to speak to Pas- 
cal about one of his daughters; Lorilleux 
was waiting to invite his friend to come the 
next day and dine with his family, intend- 
ing to present him to his sister again. 

Pascal made his appearance at eleven 
o’clock, and was radiant. He had passed 
the evening with Miss Antoinette, who had 
not answered ‘VW’ to a question which he 
had dared to propose in a low tone. He had 
returned with the full determination of 
writing to his family for the necessary con- 
sent, and of boldly proclaiming his engage- 
ment. This was the best way of diverting 
all suspicion, if any had arisen. 

He was thus leaving Mr. de Saint Koch and 
the Chevalier de Jeuflas in the hack seat, 
where they ought to remain. The con- 
structions of Mr. Gerbeau sufficiently ac- 
counted for Pascal’s frequent visits to the 
family. Business intercourse is very often 
the prelude to a good and sincere friend- 
ship. 

“This is fortunate,” exclaimed Lorilleux, 
when the Engineer appeared; “We have 
been waiting for you two hours. To'get a 
sight of you has become exceedingly diffi- 
cult. But you look splendid; with what 
Prince have you dined ? I did not know 


126 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


you were so dressy.” 

Pascal, from his first intercourse with 
Miss Gerbeau, had, in fact, given great at- 
tention to his wardrobe. 

“It is certainly necessary,” said he in a 
gay manner, “to take interest in one’s 
toilette, when a person wishes to make con- 
quests, and he must, as far as possible, dress 
like a conqueror. How do you like my 
warlike accoutrements ? 

‘ ‘Conquests ! conqueror !” stammered Lo- 
rilleux. 

“Certainly,” said Pascal, “you will not 
get angry, because I have adopted the ideas 
which you have so long been repeating to 
me; but, by the way, have you discovered, 
during the last fortnight, your ideal young 
lady ? 

The physician had the presentiment of a 
horrible misfortune, as he answered; “No, 
not yet; to find such a woman, as I wish, is 
no easy matter.” 

“So think I,” said John Lantier; “it is like 
hunting for an eel in a sack of snakes.” 

“You are both too difficult to please,” re- 
torted Pascal; and, since I did not pursue a 
chimera, I have found what I wanted. 1 
hope I have caught the eel, as John Lantier 
says/ But, to be brief, my friends, you are 
the first to be informed that I am about to 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


127 


marry. It is settled. ” 

This news was like a blow from a club to 
the two friends. 

John Lantier sank heavily in an arm-chair. 
Lorilleux stood petrified — more immovable 
than Lot’s wife, after she was turned into a 
pillar of salt — and paler than his own white 
cravat. Pascal looked at them with as- 
tonishment. “Ah! how is this? The news 
of my marriage does not seem to please 
you,” said he: ‘T presumed, however, that 
you would share in my happiness, and I ex- 
pected your congratulations.” 

“You are not jesting then ?” inquired 
John Lantier. 

“Jest!” exclaimed Pascal: U I hope, before 
three weeks are over, we shall cele- 
brate the wedding; and I count on you, my 
old friend Lantier, to make one of the party. 
After my marriage, we will think about 
building a charming little house for myself, 
in which we will have a fine house-warm- 
ing, before winter comes. 

“I will do any thing to please you,” 
said the contractor with a sigh; “I had 
come,” he added, “to speak to you about a 
business which I have, or, rather, which I 
had in view, but, as there is nothing urgent 
about it, and, moreover, it is now getting 
too late, it will be better to defer it.” Then, 


128 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


bowing to Lorilleux, who was not looking 
at him, he shook hands with Pascal and 
went out, his heavy tread being heard on 
the steps which, too hours before, he had 
ascended briskly and joyfully. 

At the same time Lantier went out, Pas- 
cal passed into another room, leaving Lo- 
rilleux alone. The physician, after a while, 
awoke from his revery, but it was to 
abandon himself to one of those spasms of 
cold rage, known only to men of his or- 
ganization. 

“Bile, not blood, rushed to his head in 
serried waves, choking and blinding him. 
With a single word, Pascal had just over- 
thrown the laborious edifice of his life, and 
he was buried under the ruin. “All is lost! 
No more hope !” these were the words which 
sounded in his ears, and redoubled his fury. 
He felt capable of the greatest crimes. Oh! 
how he hated at that moment the man who, 
but yesterday, he called his friend! In a few 
minutes, his rage had assumed frightful 
proportions. 

“Thei wretch!” said he, in a low cavernous 
•voice, with closed teeth; “the scoundrel ! 
thus to betray our friendship ! Ah ! but he 
will pay dearly for the horrible sufferings 
he has brought on me. The happiness of 
his life will not compensate for them !” And 


A CHANCE MARK I AGE. 


129 


he walked up and down the room, with the 
feverish agitation of a madman, his eyes 
glaring like those of a fierce tiger pacing 
his cage. With what pleasure would he 
have stabbed Pascal ! But he would seek 
for, he desired, a more refined vengeance. 

This furious paroxysm was more than the 
physician could endure, and, after a few 
minutes, he was compelled to sit down. His 
anger, however, had not diminished, for he 
was a man that would keep it alive for 
years; but he gradually recovered his calm- 
ness which threw on his contracted counte- 
nance its usual mask. He was reflecting, 
while he mechanically crumpled some 
papers on the table before him. 

All at once a name at the bottom of a let- 
ter attracted his attention — a name which 
explained to him the enigma of Pascal’s 
conduct. “A letter from Mr. de Saint Roch !” 
he cried, and he read the note which that 
matrimonial ambassador had written to 
Pascal, announcing the coming of one of his 
friends. 

The date of this letter, which corresponded 
so perfectly with the disappearance of Pas- 
cal, was to Lorilleux a better clew, than the 
longest and most detailed explanation. 

“There can be no doubt,” thought he, 
“that it is Miss Gerbeau that he will marry. 

17 


130 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


If I required further assurance to satisfy me 
that I am not mistaken, Pascal himself will 
soon give it to me. To marry through the 
intervention of Mr. de Saint Roch ! It is 
horrible !” After a moment’s consideration, ' 
he murmured : ‘‘But all is not yet lost ! I 
can ward off this terrible and unforeseen 
blow. ” And, obeying a sudden inspiration, 
which threw a ray of joy over his pale face, 
he took a pen and prepared to write. 

At this moment, Pascal’s voice was heard 
in the adjoining room, saying: “Well, well, 
Doctor; will you not come in here to warm 
yourself ? It is too cold for a wolf in that 
room. It will be by far more pleasant here 
for chatting. Come and bring the cigar box. ” 

“I will come presently,” cried out the 
doctor : “let me finish a letter.” 

Lorilleux wrote not only one letter, but 
two. This is the first : 

“Dear Divorne : 

If you wish to prevent an irreparable 
misfortune, hasten here, without losing a 
moment. Your son has fallen into the hands 
of a Mr. de Saint Roch, a marriage broker, 
whom you possibly know by name. He is 
going to make him enter into a family de- 
spised by all honest people; he is going to 
make him marry one of those young ladies 
who cannot find a husband. Pascal is 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


131 


deeply and blindly in love. He has con- 
cealed himself and still hides from his 
best friends, whose representations, how- 
ever, would be useless. You know your 
son’s stubbornness, and you alone can save 
this unhappy young man from shame and 
despair. 


One of your friends.” 

“P. S. — It may be expedient not to show 
this letter to your son. Come as quickly as 
possible.” 


The second letter was addressed to Mr. 
Gerbeau, in these words : 

4 ‘Dear Friend : 

Receive my sincere congratulations. 
You are a father and a jovial fellow, free 
from prejudice. You give your daughter to 
a man who has been introduced to you 
through Mr. de Saint Roch, the skillful mar- 
riage agent, and Antoinette will certainly 
be happy ! You must feel great pride in 
having for your son-in-law a young man en- 
riched by doubtful speculations — if he is in- 
deed rich, which I doubt. You will be still 
prouder when you learn that Mr. Pascal 
Divorne was expelled from the School of 
Engineers. Apply to him for the reason. 
So, my poor fellow, prepare your dollars for 
the dowry. 

As you may not believe me, I send you. 


132 


A CHANCE MAKKIAGE. 


in proof, an autograph letter of the illustri- 
ous Mr. de Saint Roch. 

Your best comrade congratulates you. 
When will the wedding come off ? 




In this second missive, Lorilleux carefully 
enclosed the note aforementioned of Mr. 
de Saint Roch. After folding the letters, he 
addressed the first and went into Pascal’s 
room to ascertain the address of the second. 
The physician was as happy as a man who 
had just seen a tile fall and dash to pieces 
only two steps ahead of him, and which 
seemed as if it would inevitably have struck 
him on the head. 

“Well, well ! Will you now that we are 
alone — you terribly sly fellow — will you tell 
me the story of your love ?” asked he of 
Pascal. 

The young engineer wished for nothing 
better. What an excellent opportunity it 
afforded of speaking of Antoinette! He was' 
not chary of words, but was as prolix as all 
lovers are. He was, however, careful to 
omit the names of the matrimonial ambas- 
sador, and the Chevalier de Jeuflas. He 
remarked that a friend of his had given him 
the address of the old manufacturer, who 
needed an architect; that he had the happi- 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


133 


ness of saving the fortune of this worthy 
person, and that their intimacy dated from 
that period. He had seen the young lady; 
had asked her hand; his request had been 
granted — that was all. 

‘‘Have you forgotten the name of this 
estimable manufacturer ?” asked the phy- 
sician. 

“His name is Gerbeau,” said Pascal. 

“I was not mistaken,” thought Lorilleux. 
“And where does he live — this happy father 
of that charming young lady ?” he asked 
aloud. 

“Ho. 5 Rue Pavee,” answered Pascal, 
unsuspectingly. 

“What !” .said Lorilleux, “do you marry 
in the Marais district ? Oh ! for shame, you 
vulgar creature !” 

“My dear fellow,” said Pascal, “the Ma- 
rais district, next to the Faubourg St. Ger- 
main, is the district of heiresses. You can 
depend upon it. It is also one of those quiet 
quarters of Paris, where you can still find 
habitable dwellings, with real apartments, 
and staircases where two can walk abreast.” 

“Well, well ! you are a happy mortal,” said 
the physician; “but, what a stupid fellow I 
am ! I have forgotten something in the letter 
which I have just scribbled; and, returning 
to the other room, he wrote in the same dis- 


134 


A CHANCE MAKK1ACE. 


guised hand, in which he had written the 
letters, the address of Mr. Gerbeau, manu- 
facturer, No. 5 &c., according to the infor- 
mation he had just received. 

“Farewell” said he to Pascal, when he had 
finished; “I leave you in tete a tete with the 
memory of your beautiful Antoinette; I will 
go and drop this letter in the post office and 
get home. I hope to dream that I too may 
find an Antoinette.” 

Lorilleux, certainly, had no remorse, on 
account of this infamous treason. In his 
eyes, the conduct of Pascal, the wrong which 
he was doing him, would have excused even 
a greater perfidy. But the blow, which had 
struck him, was too recent not ,to have pro- 
duced some effects. He had vainly striven 
to gain the mastery of himself, and liis 
countenance, which was ordinarily very pale, 
seemed livid. His effort to control himself 
caused drops of perspiration to dampen his 
forehead. His hand still trembled, while 
shaking the honest hand of his friend. 

“Something extraordinary must have oc- 
curred to you this evening,” said Pascal, 
looking at him fixedly. “Have you experi- 
enced any serious vexation? Are you sick?” 

“Nothing is the matter with me, I assure 
you,” answered Lorilleux, unblushingly. 
“Never in my life have I felt better.” 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


135 


He then went away hurriedly. He felt 
the need of being alone. The two letters 
burned his very pocket. When he reached 
the post office he reflected: “If I post Ger- 
beau’s letter, he will probably close his door 
in Pascal’s face; but Pascal will very likely 
find some way of having an explanation; 
it is possible that a reconciliation may en- 
sue. If, on the other hand, I give Mr. 
Divorne sufficient time to reach here, the 
anger of the two parents will mix the cards 
in such a manner that the marriage will be 
for ever broken off. It will require four 
days for Mr. Divorne to receive the letter 
and get here, if he hurries. I will, there- 
fore, have to wait only four days, before I 
can hurl my fire-brand into Mr. Gerbeau’s 
house.” 

Lorilleux then retired to rest, as self-satis- 
fied as Titus when he had not lost a day. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


It was eight o’clock in the morning. Pas- 
cal had arisen at dawn — that is, about a 
quarter of an hour before — and was pacing 


136 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


his appartments with a tape-measure in 
his hand. “Decidedly,” said he to himself, 
“there is not room enough here; these apart- 
ments are too small; and, when I have put 
up the partitions as they w^ere before, they 
will not be an inch larger, although my land- 
lord thinks just the contrary. I must look 
elsewhere, which is very annoying; and I 
know I will regret being deprived of the 
view on the Square. It is true that, as a 
compensation, I will no longer see before 
me the top of the Lyceum theatre, which 
looks like a peddler’s basket without 
the handle.” 

The entrance of his father abruptly in- 
terrupted Pascal’s monologue. “My father!” 
he exclaimed, dropping the measure from 
his hand in his surprise. “Yes, it is I,” 
answered the attorney; “but, first, one word, 
only one; are you going to get married ? Is 
it true ?” 

“I have written to you about it,” answered 
Pascal. 

“And through the medium of an heiress- 
merchant ?” asked the father. 

Pascal had been very guarded not to 
allude to Mr. de Saint Roch in his letter; 
hence he was much astonished, and, still 
more, vexed to see that his father knew the 
fact. He had, however, no idea of denying 


A CHANCE A1AKIUAGE. 


137 


it, believing that he could certainly rely on 
his father’s discretion. 

k ‘It is true,” lie said. 

“Unfortunate boy!” exclaimed the father. 

“Please let me explain how it all came 
about. It began as a jest, which has turned 
out seriously; but I shall owe my happiness 
to it. 

Pascal’s narrative was prolonged, because 
he did not omit the most trifling incident, 
and Mr. Divorne listened to all the details 
with the same patient attention which he 
gave to his clients when they stated their 
cases. When Pascal had concluded, Mr. 
Divorne exclaimed: “Poor fellow! And dost 
thou not see the snare? Dost thou not under- 
stand that thou art the dupe of these men?” 

“But, my dear father, it appears to me 
that accident alone — ” 

“And dost thou allow thyself to be so 
easily ensnared ?” interrupted Mr. Divorne. 
“Thou! But thou sliouldst understand that 
such people conceal their deceit; if they 
were not sly, how could they catch any one? 
I acknowledge, however, that their plan is a 
very ingenious one, and a sharper person 
than thou might have been misled. But a 
cunning old attorney cannot be so easily 
deceived, and I am here to defend thee. 
Zounds !” 

18 


138 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


The attorney was thus awakening a nest 
of foul suspicions in Pascal’s heart. He, 
however, still wished to uphold the Gerbeau 
family, but his father interrupted him, 
saying : 

“Let us see; what dost thou know about 
this family? Whom hast thou consulted ? 
Who is answerable to thee for them ? All 
thou knowst about them thou hast got from 
two intriguers, who are leagued together to 
entrap thee, that is, to have thee enter a 
family tarnished and ruined.” 

“Ruined!” exclamed Pascal. 

“Thou thyself hast told me that the for- 
tune of Gerbeau has been, or was nearly 
compromised in a business enterprise. Art 
thou certain that he has not more of this 
same kind of business?” 

“If money were the only question,” said 
Pascal, “I am rich enough for two.” 

“Very well; I admit he may be rich, very 
rich, but does that prove him an honest 
man? I know, by Jove a number, of ras- 
cals who are millionnaires. But judging 
from the actions of the two intriguers, I 
think I can confidently say that it is neces- 
sary for thee to abandon all idea of mar- 
riage.” 

Pascal did not say a word. It appeared 
to him, while his father was speaking, as if 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


139 


a veil was falling from his eyes. Had he 
not acted very inconsiderately ?” 

“Listen to me, my son,” resumed the 
attorney : “let us reason a little. When 
the father of an honorable family wishes to 
marry his daughter, does he, in order to 
find her a husband, address himself to a 
gentleman like— what dost thou call thy 
intriguer ?” 

“Mr. de Saint Roch.” 

“Well, let Saint Roch pass,” continued 
the father : if thou hadst a daughter, 
wouldst thou have acted like Gerbeau ? 
No. This alone should have opened thy 
eyes. And, then, how hast thou been ad- 
mitted into this family? All at once, with- 
out information, without reference, on the 
word of a would-be associate — -thou didst 
enter that house as a beggar enters a 
church, and thou wast immediately allowed 
to pay thy addresses to the young lady — 
Bless my heart ! Dost thou not see what 
kind of people they are ?” 

“But, my dear father,” answered Pascal, 
‘*tliey are received in honorable society. 
It was at an evening party, at the residence 
of an old magistrate—” 

“And so dost thou still believe in the old 
magistrate ? A magistrate to whose house 
a swindler has free access ! Poor boy ! 


140 


A CHAN on: M ARM AGE. 


They invited thee to a dance in a ball got up 
for the purpose; the dancers were hired 
for the evening — ” 

“Oh! dear father/’ said Pascal, I certainly 
understand men too well to be deceived in 
that manner, and — ” 

“My dear sir,” interrupted the father, 
“where a good price is given, honest-look- 
ing intriguers are to be found in abundance. 
Dost thou wish me to give thee my reasons 
for these assertions? Be it so. The Ger- 
beau family is rich and honorable — very 
honorable — I admit that; but it is the 
daughter who — ” 

“Oh, dear father!” exclaimed Pascal 
struck to the heart: “I pray you, do not speak 
in that way. She, so pure, so beautiful — Oh! 
if you only knew her; if you but saw her 
sweet countenance and her frank open eyes, 
you would acknowledge your injustice and 
your error. 

Mr. Divorne shrugged his shoulders and 
said: “What! thou, in thy thirtieth year, 
dost speak in this way. Why, when I was 
only eighteen, I knew how much confidence 
I could place in this appearance of candor. 
Thou still believest that lovely, tender, timid 
eyes are the faithful reflection of a beautiful 
soul ? Why, if a woman intends to deceive 
thee or anybody, her eyes will never reveal 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


141 


any more of her heart than will the calm 
surface of a lake reveal the slime and the 
mire heaped up in the depths of its limpid 
waters — ” 

“But I love her,” said Pascal, with tears 
in his eyes; “I love her!” 

‘‘Alas ! my poor son,” said Mr. Divorne, 
“I fear that this is without hope. But, 
before any decision, it is necessary to con- 
sider and collect information ; this is what I 
will do this very day; but now give me 
something to eat, because 1 am dying with 
hunger. ” 

While Mr. Divorne was breakfasting, he 
made an effort to console his son. “Cour- 
age!” said he: “do not be disconsolate; we 
will find thee another woman, in case thou 
canst not marry this one. Thy mother has 
one already for thee, and I must say that 
the news of thy marriage gave her a great 
deal of pain, a great deal indeed, and she has 
wept over it. Hadst thou consulted her, 
this would not have happened. Thou 
wouldst have come to Lannion and seen the 
young lady whom she has chosen for thee, 
and thou wouldst have loved her. But noth- 
ing is lost. If this marriage is dropped, thou 
wilt still love her — ” 

“I cannot love any one but Antoinette,” 
sighed Pascal, sadly. 


142 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


“Is it really as serious as all that ?” asked 
the lawyer, tossing his head; “well, it is 
not necessary to remain long in this state 
of uncertainty; this very evening thou wilt 
be settled. Send for a coach and give me 
the address of this young lady’s father, and 
of thy two intriguers. Dost thou not know 
any of the friends or the enemies — though 
there is really no difference between them— 
of the Gerbeau family ?” 

“I do not know any of their relatives,” 
said Pascal. 

“Extraordinary ! Thou art a wonderful 
man. This is, however, ver}^ important. 
Come now, my son, try to remember — ” 

“It is of no use.” said Passal. “I really do 
not know any one, except, perhaps, their 
notary.” 

“Their notary?” said Mr. Divorne, inquir- 
ingly. “Thou knowest their notary, and hast 
not mentioned him ! And thou hast not 
been to see him ! But, my dear son, when 
it is a question of marriage, notaries are the 
very first sources of references; they alone 
are consulted; they were established for this 
express purpose. Give me his name at 
once.” 

“Mr. Bertaud.” 

“Mr. Bertaud!” said Mr. Divorne, thought- 
fully. “I do not know him; but never mind 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


143 


that. His title is sufficient. He is my 
friend, or ought to be. All ministerial 
officers are my friends; we are brothers, or 
nearly so. I will begin my tour with him. 
I will start. Do not feel uneasy.” 

If Mr. Divorne had really thought that he 
could have found even tolerable references, 
he would not have gone in search of them ; 
he would have simply and solely refused 
his consent, and would have availed himself 
of Pascal’s first moment of surprise to exact 
from him the promise to proceed no further 
in the matter. 

But he expected to gather some singular 
stories about the parents of this young lady, 
which would represent that she had been 
exposed for sale in the store of the marriage 
negotiator; he was prepared to listen to de- 
plorable revelations -and strange confidences, 
and it rejoiced him while thinking over it, 
as he was entering the carriage. He re- 
joiced, because, before leaving Lannion, he 
had promised his wife that he would put 
an end to this marriage, which would thus 
be broken off, without any manoeuvring or 
exercise of authority on his part. In this 
case, Pascal himself, far from having a 
grudge against him, would be grateful for 
his interference, and for not having decided 
on the positive breaking off of the marriage 


144 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


till the steps he was taking to ascertain 
the truth, had demonstrated the necessity 
of doing so. This is what the attorney was 
thinking of, while mounting the stairs to 
Mr. Bertaud’s office. 

Pascal, left to himself, was distressed. 
Had he been duped or not ? 

Appearances, it is true, were in favor of 
the attorney; but appearances are deceit- 
ful. How was it that the name of Miss 
Gerbeau was found on Mr. de Saint RoclTs 
list of heiresses ? There must have been 
some hidden reasons for it. Ah ! how 
bitterly he regretted having gone so far, 
groping like a blind man! Experience and 
reason told him, convinced him that his 
father was in the right; but he was in love, 
and his heart warmly pleaded the cause of 
Antoinette. 

The noise of an animated discussion in 
the ante-room broke off these reflections of 
Pascal, and, almost on the same instant, 
the Chevalier de Jeuflas entered, or, rather 
rushed in, in violation of the positive orders 
to the servant not to admit any one. 

The first impulse of Pascal was to jump 
at the throat of the Chevalier, and choke 
him ; but, fortunately, he controlled himself, 
aud all his anger vanished at the thought 
that the Chevalier was Antoinette’s fathers 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


145 


intimate friend. Poor Mr. de Jeuflas! He 
looked ten years older. In one night, 
chagrin had made deep furrows on his 
brow. He who, the evening before, held 
himself so straight, was now bent in body, 
and his head shook. His toilette had been 
neglected; his cravat was rumpled; his shoes 
were bespattered with mud, and the few 
hairs he had, which usually seemed to be 
so naturally and so symmetrically arranged, 
were in disorder. 

He also must have received a terrible 
blow, and appeared no less afflicted than 
his young friend. He was evidently very 
much affected, his countenance indicated 
utter despondency, and his voice was tremu- 
lous, although he still lisped. “Well, well,” 
said he, in a pitiable tone, “everything has 
failed; but you already know the misfor- 
tune, I see it in your sadness — ” and the 
Chevalier, overwhelmed, sat, or rather 
dropped into an arm-chair. 

“Yes,” said Pascal, “the arrival of my 
father — ” 

“Yes, your father! But have you not re- 
ceived the letter of Mr. Gerbeau ?” inquired 
the Chevalier. 

“I have received some letters,” replied 
Pascal, but have not opened them, they are 
all on the mantle-piece. 

19 


146 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


The Chevalier rose with an effort, and, 
taking the yet untouched correspondence of 
his young friend, searched for a moment 
among the letters, papers and imprints of 
the morning, and then said: 4 ‘Here is Mr. 
Gerbeau’s letter; I know his handwriting. 
You will allow me to read it, will you not?” 
and, without waiting for Pascal’s answer, 
he opened the envelope and rapidly glanced 
over the contents of the letter. 

“Oh!” exclaimed he, after he had finished, 
“all is now over. I know Mr. Gerbeau by 
heart; he would rather perish than confess 
that he had been deceived. Take this let- 
ter,” said he, passing it to the young man; 
“read — and, especially, becalm.” 

Calmness was certainly, under the cir- 
cumstances, very necessary. Mr. Gerbeau 
had written under the impulse of violent 
anger, and had not measured his expres- 
sions. He had written as follows: 

“Sir: 


Take no further trouble to present 
yourself at my house. You will hereafter 
find no one there. I know all. I have been 
informed of your perfidious manoeuvres to 
secure my confidence. I know the odious 
accomplices, who have procured you admis- 
sion to my house, and am not ignorant of 
your expulsion from the Polytechnic school. 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


147 


My keenest regret is that I am under obliga- 
tions to you. Fix your own price for your 
services; ask for half of my fortune, but 
no longer think of my daughter. 

GERBEAU .” 

Pascal read this offensive letter slowly. 
He could not comprehend much of it, it is 
true, but, what he did, vexed him slightly. 
His anxiety was to learn the motive which 
induced Mr. Gerbeau to act in this way. 

“Is this a comedy?” said he to himself. 
“But why? Doubtless to anticipate the 
breaking off of the marriage, to forestall the 
inquiries of my father. But how could any 
one know of the arrival of my father ?” 

He could not find any satisfactory solution 
to these questions. At last, he quietly placed 
the letter on the table. Mr. de Jeuflas, who 
was observing him closely, and looking for 
an outburst of passion, was greatly surprised 
at his calmness. 

“Well,” asked the Chevalier, “what do 
you say to all this ?” 

“Nothing,” replied Pascal. “Mr. Gerbeau 
has, without doubt, become crazy. He writes 
in an insulting manner, and, I will be hang- 
ed, if I know the reason for it.” 

“What, do you not understand ?” 

“I ask your pardon,” said Pascal; “I see 
very clearly that he no longer wishes to give 


148 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


me his daughter, and this is all I do see. It 
was not worth while to have Mr. de Saint 
Roch propose her to me.” 

“But, unfortunate man, if he rejects you, 
it is because he has been informed of the 
part which Mr. de Saint Roch has had in 
this matter,” said the Chevalier. 

“By heavens, this is too strong!” answer- 
ed Pascal. “Do you expect to make me 
believe that it is without the knowledge 
of Mr. Gerbeau, that the name of his 
daughter was placed on the register of your 
friend, and with the titles to support it, as 
Mr. de Saint Roch says ?” 

“I swear that he is ignorant of it,” said 
Mr. de Jeuflas. 

“Then I have missed the mark,” replied 
Pascal. 

“It is, however, easily explained,” said Mr. 
de Jeuflas. “In the marriages which Mr. de 
Saint Roch negotiates, it is frequently the 
case that one of the parties in interest 
is ignorant of his agency. You are under 
the impression that he is acquainted with 
all whom he marries; but this is by no 
means the case. He has agents co-operating 
who work for him, secure references, and 
who — ” 

“Share the fees!” interrupted Pascal. 
“That is excellent ! So, Chevalier, you 


A CHANCiS MARKIAGK. 


149 


are one of those co-operators — that is a nice 
word!” 

Mr. de Jeuflas, under the sardonic look of 
Pascal, blushed deeply. For a moment he 
remained silent and was evidently embar- 
rassed. Suddenly recovering his confidence 
he replied: “Well, yes, I am one of Mr. de 
Saint Roch’s agents. I must I live, and I 
know that there are occupations worse than 
mine; and, if there is any shame in it, I share 
it with many men of high social standing — 
men who aredargely decorated too — and also 
with a number of old ladies highly esteemed 
and honored, and very devout. Ah ! I 
know that Mr. de Saint Roch has many 
agents whom hardly any one would suspect, 
and no one accuse — But, after all, where is 
the harm, so long as you are treated 
fairly ?” 

‘ ‘Fairly !” repeated Pascal. ” 

“Yes, sir,” said Mr. de Jeuflas, “and I can 
clearly explain to you the method of Mr. de 
Saint Roch. He has agents, and I, for ex- 
ample, am one. I make a memorandum 
of all the marriageable young ladies among 
my acquaintances, whose parents are my 
friends. I collect the information as to 
their fortune, manners, etc. I do the same 
with the young men, and I bring it all to 
Mr. de Saint Roch. The other co-operators 


150 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


do the same. He transcribes our memo- 
randa, and so can offer the young men or 
young ladies whose names have been sub- 
mitted to him, and all this without their 
knowledge. This is precisely the way it 
stands with Miss Gerbeau. Sometimes the 
marriage is actually concluded without any 
direct application to Mr. de Saint Roch, and 
it is in this that he displays his ability. All 
is transacted by his agents whom he places 
in communication with the parties.” 

Pascal still preserved his sad look, though 
in his heart he was enraptured, and he 
would willingly have embraced the matri- 
monial agent, because he did not doubt his 
veracity. Neither the manner nor the tone 
of the afflicted Chevalier could be imitated. 
Hope once more began to dawn in the heart 
of the young man. “So then,” said he to 
himself, “Antoinette is not lost to me.” He 
then asked aloud: “How then has Mr. Ger- 
beau received his information?” 

4 ‘I should have told you this in the begin- 
ning,” answered the Chevalier; “It was 
through an anonymous letter.” 

“Oh!” exclaimed Pascal. 

“Yes,” continued Mr. de Jeuflas, “an 
anonymous letter, which must have been 
written by one of your friends.” 

“You must know, sir,” said Pascal, “that 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


151 


my friends are not capable of such an in- 
famous action.” 

“It must, at least, have been written by 
some one who has access to your house, be- 
cause the note, in which Mr. de Saint Roch 
informed you of my call, was inclosed in 
the letter.” 

“It is impossible,” exclaimed Pascal, and 
he rushed to the desk to look for that im- 
portant note. It was in vain that he hunted 
for it, ransacked his drawers, turned his 
drawings upside down, shook his papers 
separately. The note could not be found. 
He returned to his seat greatly discouraged. 

“It is incredible!” said he. “An anony- 
mous letter! But who informed my father?” 

“Ah!” said the Chevalier, “you must have 
some perfidious friend.” 

“I will find him,” said Pascal, “if I can 
see, for five minutes, that letter addressed to 
Mr. Gerbeau — ” 

“Go and ask him for it,” said Mr. de 
Jeuflas, despondingly. “As for myself, I 
have not the courage to do it. He treated 
me very uncivilly this morning, and almost 
thrust me out of doors.” 

“How the deuce is it that a man, like you, 
accepts the pay of an agent of marriages?” 
asked Pascal. 

“Ah! sir, want,” said Mr. de Jeuflas. “I 


152 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


was once rich, but am now ruined. Can a 
man, at my age, go to work? Besides, what 
am I fit for?” 

“Poor Chevalier!” said Pascal; “I really 
pity you.” 

“You do wrong in scoffing at me at all 
events. This affair of Mr. Gerbeau ruins 
me for ever. What will become of me if 
this affair is noised about? My honor, my 
credit, my standing will be gone; every 
door will be shut in my face. ” 

Pascal pitied the unhappy man, and said : 
“Whatever may happen, I promise you 
that I will keep silence.” 

“But will Mr. Gerbeau hold his peace? 
This very morning he drove me out of his 
house — Oh, shame! the Chevalier de Jeuflas! 
and by this time he has doubtless related 
the fact to twenty persons.” 

“I may be mistaken,” said Pascal, “but it 
seems to me that it would be Mr. Gerbeau’s 
interest for his daughter's sake, to remain 
silent. You are alarmed without cause.” 

Pascal’s efforts were useless. He could not 
bring a smile to the lips of the unfortunate 
agent, who had been severely tried, and 
was no more than the shadow of himself. 
When he left, he grasped the young man’s 
hand affectionately, giving him this part- 
ing advice : ‘ ‘ Y ou have a dangerous enemy ; 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


153 


be on your guard.” 

This advice was certainly useless. Pas- 
cal, struck to the heart, in his love had 
already determined to find what wretch had 
thus betrayed friendship. If Mr. Gerbeau 
would never revoke his decision, his happi- 
ness was gone for ever. He would be re- 
venged. 


CHAPTER IX. 


Mr. de Saint Roch, with eyes brightened 
by inspiration, was seated at his desk — 
before his green cases containing so many 
and such fearful secrets, and his registers 
inscribed in hieroglyphics — laboring for the 
happiness of humanity. 

This apostle of marriage was writing an 
advertisement. It was an extraordinary 
production — one of those which, when placed 
on the fourth page of a newspaper, even of 
a journal called The Friend of ‘Religion, 
will make it amusing. 

The task was difficult. This was apparent 
from the paper before him. It was full of 
interlineations and erasures. The adver- 
20 


154 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


tisement was the most serious point in the 
mission of the illustrious ambassador, 
u. Every line cost money. The publisher ap- 
plied his measuring rule to every inch of 
space occupied. It was important to say a 
great deal in few words. To this end the 
efforts of the marriage-negotiator were 
directed. His advertisement, which was 
intended to make the hearts of all the un- 
married beat with expectation and curiosity, 
was more particularly addressed to the 
fathers of families. It read as follows: 

‘‘Discreet fathers — I am the custodian of 
the honor of families, I, Saint Roch, who re- 
stored marriage forty years ago. I have no 
branch offices. My office is the ante- 
chamber to that of the mayor. My good 
will is almost equal to that of the sacra- 
ment. When your daughters are not pro- 
vided for, send them to me, and I will find 
for them advantageous alliances. Write 
me frankly. I am just in receipt of a com- 
plete assortment of princes of the highest 
quality who contemplate marrying. 

“Fathers of families! You will bless me. 
Saint Roch, because — ” 

At this moment the Ambassador was 
startled by six strokes of a bell. “Oh !” 
said he, “a client is awaiting me in the 
pearl-grey saloon.” He immediately con- 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


155 


cealed the unfinished advertisement in his 
drawer. Opening a closet, he took from it 
a blue dress-coat, exactly similar to the one 
he wore, with this little difference, that the 
one he had on was shabby, while this one 
was brand-new. 

Having changed his clothes in a moment 
— a change so important in a matrimonial 
negotiator — he approached the looking-glass, 
and glanced over his toilet. He drew out 
his cuffs of Mechlin lace, adjusted the frill 
of his shirt bosom, arranged the numerous 
waterfall chains of his watch, rubbed for an 
instant the precious stones of his rings to 
increase their brilliancy, and, finally, with 
a dandy like movement of the head, gave a 
more gracious turn to his light curly peruke. 
Then, taking a last look in the mirror, and 
assuming a charming smile, he proceeded 
towards the pearl-grey saloon. Doubtless a 
patron was getting impatient. 

He entered, and, as was his noble and 
affable habit, he graciously greeted the new 
visitor three times, in accordance with the 
rules of the professors of the best school of 
etiquette: the heels on the line, the toes pro- 
jecting outwards, the chest slightly inclined, 
the elbow rounded, and the head on a level 
with the heart. He made the second salu- 
tation, and was preparing for the third, 


256 


A CHANCE MAKKI AGE. 


when the visitor sprang at his throat with- 
out respect for his frill, exclaiming: “You 
wretch!” 

Poor Mr. de Saint Roch was terribly 
frightened. He bounded to one side and 
tried to get a table between him and his 
unceremonious visitor. His rapid retreat 
was successful, but in its execution he struck 
the table and drew after him seven or eight 
china votive offerings, which fell to the 
floor and were broken to pieces. 

“Ah!” thought Mr. de Saint Roch, “he 
must be some newly married man who is 
not satisfied. I can perceive as much.” 

He was, however, at fault this time. It 
was Mr. Gerbeau himself. The anonymous 
letter of Lorilleux was producing its effect. 

Mr. Gerbeau was no longer the old and 
honest ex-manufacturer with whom we have 
been acquainted, but a tiger broken loose. 
To learn that his daughter’s name had been 
placed on the registers of Mr. de Saint Roch 
had put him in a fury; he had vowed to cane 
him, and had come to make good his word. 

But the negotiator of marriages was now 
entrenched behind his table, and had re- 
covered some of his courage. Addressing 
his adversary, he said: “If you attempt any 
further violence, I will call my servants. 
Now, if you wish to ta!k, let us do so, but 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


157 


let it be calmly. Who are you, and what?*’ 

“Who am I? You rascal!” exclaimed the 
ex-manufacturer: “I am a father whose 
daughter you have nearly compromised, 
you infamous intriguer! I am Gerbeau. 
You would have palmed off on me for a 
son-in-law a man of abandoned character — 
you vile broker! — one Pascal Divorne, a 
man turned put of the Polytechnic School 
in disgrace !” 

“Silence !” cried Mr. de Saint Roch; “you 
are calumniating a young man whose little 
finger is worth more than your whole 
body.” 

“Ah! would you insult me, you rascal?” 
replied Mr. Gerbeau. “Wait a moment, 
and we will see. ” He ran around the table 
trying to catch the negotiator, but Mr. de 
Saint Roch was as nimble as himself. The 
remarkable discussion in the meantime went 
on: “Who has allowed you to interfere in 
the marriage of my daughter?" demanded 
Mr. Gerbeau. 

“I am not accountable to any one,” re- 
plied Mr. de Saint Rcch. 

“I will appeal to the court.” 

“I care nothing for that; I have decisions 
which sanction my profession as honor- 
able.” 

Finally becoming tired of this chase, out 


158 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


of breath and exhausted, the two adver- 
saries stopped; but, good heavens ! what a dis- 
order in the well arranged toilet of Mr. de 
Saint Boch! The gold chains were in all 
directions over his breast; the frill hung 
like a rag; one of his ruffles was half torn 
off, and the beautiful blonde hair in dis- 
order. 

But the illustrious negotiator had lost 
none of his brilliant loquacity. He accord- 
ingly undertook, by dint of eloquence, to 
mollify the ferocious Mr. Gerbeau. “You 
have spoken of courts, sir,” exclaimed he, 
“but have not I also a right to complain of 
your outburst of rage ? You have vilified 
the noblest of professions; you have at- 
tempted to desecrate my priesthood !” 

“Blackguard!” muttered Mr, Gerbeau 
through his teeth. 

“ Others have tried to tarnish my reputa- 
tion. I have obtained justice against them. 
Do you not know of the judgments which 
have been made in my favor?” 

“I scorn them !” replied Mr. Gerbeau. 

“Have you read the speeches of my 
lawyers?” 

“Ah ! indeed, I care a good deal about 
them,’’ ironically replied Mr. Gerbeau. 

“The lawyers’ opinion printed at my 
own expense?” concluded Mr. de Saint 


A CHANGE MARRIAGE. 


159 


Roch. 

Mr. Gerbeau was beginning to be a little 
ashamed of his fit of anger, and said in a 
different humor: “You have dared to 
mingle the name of my daughter in your 
dirty intrigues, and I cannot endure it. I 
will not leave here till I have torn to pieces, 
with my own hands, the page on which you 
have written the name of my daughter; and 
I forbid you henceforth to have any thing to 
do concerning her! I demand your promise 
and guarantee.” 

“Be it so,” answered the matrimonial 
agent. “Please to follow me, sir, into my 
study, and we will come to an understand- 
ing.” 

An understanding begun in so lively a 
manner, necessarily required time. It 
was an interminable affair; but never 
before had the celebrated negotiator been so 
noble, so exquisite, so pathetic. Forgetting 
the disorder of his toilet, which at any other 
moment would have filled him with confu- 
sion, and paralyzed his ability, he assidu- 
ously heaped up reason on reason, not to 
exonerate himself, but to convince his ad- 
versary. In spite of the difficulties, he 
hoped to restore to its former integrity 
this broken marriage-alliance, which had 
been so beautifully, so admirably combined! 


160 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


He understood the matter better than any 
one else. 

First of all, he attacked the prejudices of 
Mr. Gerbeau; and, in order to assure him- 
self of his sympathy, Mr. de Saint Roch did 
not hesitate to tear off, before the eyes of 
the ex -manufacturer, the mysterious veil 
which concealed his operations from the 
profane world. He exposed to him the in- 
genious machinery of his establishment. 
He extolled the grandeur of his mission and 
the benefits incident from his mediation. 

“Is not this profession a desirable progress 
in our civilization, as well as steam, gas, 
ready-made clothing, omnibusses, and the 
electric telegraph ?” he asked. 

But when he came to Pascal, he enumer- 
ated in glowing language the excellent 
qualities of the young engineer, so rich, so 
economical — a real treasure of a son-in-law. 
He reached indeed the sublime — nay, car- 
ried away by his subject, he actually 
broke his vow of discretion. In defense 
of Pascal, slandered in so cowardly a 
manner, as having been disgracefully sent 
from the Polytechnic School, he related 
why the young man had resigned his com- 
mission. He might as well have spoken 
to the walls. Mr. Gerbeau remained 
colder than marble. He confined himself 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


161 


to an occasional remark, reminding Mr. de 
Saint Roch of the object of his visit. Per- 
ceiving, however, that the eloquence of Mr. 
de Saint Roch was inexhaustible, he finally 
said: “Let us speak no more about it. I do 
not believe a word of all you have said; I 
may be mistaken, but I believe that you 
have some great interest in the marriage of 
Mr. Divorne.” 

“Ah, sir, notaries also, have a great in- 
terest in marrying their clients — ” 

“Yes, but they are government officers; 
they can be trusted; their probity and their 
discretion — ” 

Mr. de Saint Roch now saw, as he thought, 
the way for giving the decisive blow, and 
exclaimed: “Their discretion! Ah, sir! I 
see that you do not know any thing of mine. 
I have, however, expended more than a 
hundred thousand francs to publish it to 
the whole world. A secret entrusted to me 
is more secure than your money in the Bank 
of France. My house is the confessional of 
the world, the sepulchre of all secrets. 
Never will any of the confidences entrusted 
to me be divulged. Even death will not 
cause me to reveal. At my death every- 
thing will follow me to my grave — my office, 
my titles, my chronicles. I have never 
trained a pupil. As to my registers, you 

21 


162 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


can open them. Cast your eye over this 
catalogue of all the heiresses of the five 
parts of the world. You cannot understand 
any of the hieroglyphical characters, which 
I alone can decipher — ” 

The noise of a hell, which sounded in a 
distant apartment, abruptly interrupted the 
negotiator, who listened attentively, and 
numbered five strokes. “The devil take 
the importunate fellow,” muttered he: “it 
is a visitor in the sky-blue saloon.” Almost 
immediately a servant half opened one of 
the doors of the study and made a sign to 
Mr. de Saint Roch. 

“I beg a thousand pardons,” said he to 
Mr. Gerbeau; “I will be with you again in a 
moment;” and he approached the servant. 
“Sir,” said the servant, in a low voice, 
“there is a gentleman in the sky-blue 
saloon.” 

“I know it; 1 have heard the bell, it is 
useless to disturb me. ” 

“You say this, because you do not know 
that the gentleman appears to be in a fury. 
He would not wait, and threatliened to 
smash everything,” replied the servant. 

“The deuce! What kind of a man is he?” 

“A large man with gold spectacles; some- 
what old, tastily dressed, with a provincial 
appearance. This is his card.” 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


163 


Mr. de Saint Koch took it, glanced at it, 
and uttered an exclamation of joy as he 
read: 


‘‘PIERRE DIYORNE, 

Licensed Attorney.” 

“The father!” thought he; “Heaven has 
sent him.” Possessed by one of those sub- 
lime inspirations which decide battles, he 
shoved aside the servant and rushed into 
the passage, leaving his visitor alone and 
astonished. 

Mr. Divorne, the father, had just come 
from the office of Mr. Bertaud, who had given 
him such unexpected details of Antoinette’s 
family, and such brilliant references, that 
he bitterly regretted the promise he had 
given to his wife to break off the marriage. 
But, slave to his word, he entrenched him- 
self in his resolution to refuse his consent in 
spite of everything, and he had now come 
to give vent to his anger and to upbraid 
the negotiator, as he deserved. Hence 
he did not greet Mr. de Saint Roch— who 
was running towards him— very kindly. 
The ambassador did not bandy words, but 
taking the arm of the attorney and pushing 
him before him, kept repeating: “In my 


164 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


study, in my study.” When he reached it, 
he addressed himself to his first visitor, 
saying: 

“Sir, I have the honor to introduce to you 
Mr. Pierre Divorne, the father of Pascal, a 
licensed attorney at the bar of Lannion.” 
He then turned to the attorney and said: 
“Sir, I introduce you to Mr. Gerbeau, an 
ex-manufacturer of Koubaix, and the father 
of Miss Antoinette.” 

The two fathers greeted each other coldly. 
In the meantime Mr. de Saint Roch seated 
himself behind his desk, as a man entirely 
disinterested in the question. 

There was a long silence between the at- 
torney and the ex-manufacturer. After a 
while both began to speak, each of them 
hoping to silence the other, and to compel 
him to hear. 

Mr. Gerbeau had not obtained any refer- 
ences, and had persistently believed himself 
duped. He was accordingly the most ex- 
asperated. He spoke much the louder, and 
repeated over and over again: “I will hear 
nothing; I positively decline your son — ” 

This obstinacy finally angered Mr. Di- 
vorne. “Let us go to Mr. Bertaud’s, where 
we can come to an understanding,” he pro- 
posed. 

“Be it so,” said Gerbeau: and both left by 


A CH A NCE M A HJ £ I A GE. 


165 


the passage through which they had been 
admitted, (at the risk of meeting some one) 
without taking leave of Mr. de Saint Roch. 

This incivility did not afflict the negotia- 
tor. 4 ‘They go to the notary’s,’’ said 
he, rubbing his hands cheerfully. “It is a 
good sign. This transaction has given me 
some trouble; but it is now as good as done. 
Well, here are ten thousand francs at least, 
of which three thousand are for the Cheva- 
lier de Jeuflas; clear gain seven thousand 
francs.” Seating himself at his desk, he 
began again to write his advertisement. It 
was concluded as follows: 

“The characteristic of Mr. de Saint Roch is 
that self-interest does not control him. 
His aim is to disseminate morality among 
mankind. He seeks to do this through the 
medium of marriage. Secresy and disin- 
terestedness is his motto.” 

The illustrious negotiator had judged cor- 
rectly. All was arranged at the office of 
the notary. Mr. Bertaud knew how to 
apply these beautiful and noble words of a 
country notary to his successor: “Remem- 
ber, young man, that a notary is an inter- 
posing medium, for the purpose of deadening 
the shock between two separate interests.” 
He skillfully interposed between these two 
fathers — Mr. Gerbeau who would not give 


166 


A CHANGE MARRIAGE. 


his daughter, and Mr. Divorne who persis- 
tently insisted on having her for his son, 
since she was refused to him. But thanks 
to the inexhaustible patience of Mr. Ber- 
taud — the most enduring and impressive of 
notaries — they at last came to an under- 
standing. 

In less than five hours of parley, the mar- 
riage settlement was arranged, decided, 
concluded, and almost signed. It was 
stipulated, among other conditions, that 
Mr. Gerbeau would give five hundred thou- 
sand francs in cash to his daughter. This 
was at least fifty thousand francs more than 
he intended; but his mind had been in- 
fluenced by both the notary and Mr. Di- 
vorne. 

The attorney, so unmanageable in regard 
to the dowry, was far from suspecting that 
while he was working for the increase of 
the dowry, he was also working for the 
matrimonial ambassador. 

The day of the nuptials was finally fixed. 
The two fathers left Mr. Bertaud’s office the 
best of friends. Mr. Divorne hurried to an- 
nounce the good news to his son. The visit 
of the Chevalier de Jeuflas* had singularly 
reassured Pascal, but he was far from 
expecting such a prompt solution. He 
fairly staggered back when he saw his 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


167 


father and Mr. Gerbeau entering. But it 
does not take long to recover from emotions 
produced by the shock of unexpected hap- 
piness. 

Pascal was made acquainted with what 
had taken place, both at the office of the 
marriage agent, and at Mr. Bertaud’s. He 
soon perceived that lie was the least sur- 
prised of the three. 

“Who could ever have expected this ?” 
continually repeated Mr. Divorne. It would 
certainly have embarrassed the attorney, 
who so suddenly forgot tllC solemn pledge 
Which he made to his wife. 

“What I will never be able to under- 
stand,” said Mr. Gerbeau, “is how this dear 
Pascal ever had the incredible, the impossi- 
ble idea of going to Mr. de Saint Koch.” 

“Oh! as for that,” answered Pascal, “I 
solemnly declare that all I intended was to 
have a very innocent jest.” 

“As though people could jest with mar- 
riage!” said Mr. Divorne, gravely; “that 
would be like playing with fire.” 

“And besides,” continued Pascal, “who 
would ever have suspected the part of the 
matrimonial agent, if a professed friend of 
mine had not busied himself to write to you? 
The unworthy man intended to injure me, 
but has instead rendered me the greatest 


168 A CHANCE MARKIACK. 

service. I wish I knew whom to thank. ” 

“It would be necessary to see the hand- 
writing,” said Mr. Gerbeau. “This is the 
letter.” 

“And this is mine,” said Mr. Divorne. 
But the skillfully disguised hand revealed 
nothing to Pascal. He turned the two 
anonymous letters over and ovqr again, 
racking his brain to guess the author’s 
motive, when he discovered his initial let- 
ters, “P. D.” embossed on the corners of the 
two sheets. “Zounds!” said he, “these let- 
ters were written in my house.” 

“By whom?” asked Mr. Gerbeau and the 
attorney in one voice. 

“Ah! that is the difficulty,” answered 
Pascal. “Many friends visit me.” But, at 
the same time, however, he thought within 
himself that only Lorilleux or John Lantier 
could have come into the possession of the 
note of Mr. de Saint Roch. There could be 
no question about that. 

At this moment Pascal called to mind the 
paleness of his friend the last time he saw 
him. He also remembered that the phy- 
sician had remained alone in his room that 
evening, to write a letter he said. Lo- 
rilleux was evidently the guilty one. This 
cowardly treason on the part of the friend 
of his youth overwhelmed him. 


A CHANCE MARKIAGK. 


169 


Deceits in friendship are more cruel than 
those in love, because they are less expected. 
He, however, was careful not to repeat 
aloud the name he had just conjectured. 

„ Although indignant at the physician, he 
still loved him, and was unwilling to hold 
up to scorn the name of an old college chum. 
Besides, he was ashamed to confess that he 
had been duped by appearances. 

After a long silence, Mr. Gerheau asked 
him: “Well, have you guessed ? Are you 
upon the scent ?” 

“No,” replied Pascal, “I have not the 
slightest suspicion.” 

“It is necessary to inquire into this,” in- 
terposed the attorney. “If you remain in 
this state of uncertainty, you will mistrust 
all your friends.” 

“I prefer not to think any longer about 
this infamous act,” said Pascal decidedly. 
He crushed the letters and threw them into 
the corner, intending, however, to take 
them up again so as to confound and over- 
whelm the traitor Lorilleux. 

“Be it so,” exclaimed Mr. Gerheau. “Let 
us think no more about it, nor about Mr. de 
Saint Roch or his co-operator the Chevalier 
de Jeuflas. Let the pardon be universal. 
I will go immediately to console my poor 
daughter, whom I left bathed in tears — now 

22 


170 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


I may say it.” 

Pascal washiot grieved to learn that Miss 
Antoinette had wept, and he heartily em- 
braced his future father-in-law. It was 
doubtless to thank him for this avowal. 


CHAPTER X. 


Following the example of careful miners, 
who quickly depart after applying the 
match to the fuse of the charged mine, 
Lorilleux had kept at a distance waiting 
the explosion of his anonymous shells. He 
did not appear till the day after the event- 
ful one on which the marriage of Pascal 
had been decided. 

The physician dissembled his serious un- 
easiness under a countenance agreeably 
playful. “What news?” asked he, as he 
placed himself in the arm-chair of his 
friend. “As for myself, I am overwhelmed 
with work; all my patients have passed the 
watchword to one another to fall sick on the 
same day. But, by the way, what about your 
marriage?” 

“I am, indeed, going to marry Miss Ger- 
beau.” 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


171 


“Ah!” said the physician, becoming pale. 
“And your father?” 

“Has been here since yesterday morning.” 

“Hoes he consent?” 

“Who would prevent him?” 

Much disconcerted, Lorilleux asked him- 
self earnestly “whether he had not made a 
mistake in addressing the letters.” But 
Pascal, who had risen from his chair, 
presented him the anonymous missives, say- 
ing in a very' calm voi6e : “Here are two 
letters, my friend, which had nearly pre- 
vented my marriage; take them, and be 
particularly careful to burn them. Let no 
one suspect that you are capable of such an 
act.” - I • 

On the way to his friend, the physician 
had prepared himself for everything except 
this. He stammered a few words of excuse. 
He attempted to deny, but had not the 
strength to do it. Shame and emotion 
choked him. He arose, hid his face in his 
hands, and staggered towards the door like 
a drunken man. But Pascal stopped him, 
saying : “I do not thus easily forget twenty 
years of devoted friendship; Lorilleux, I 
forgive you.” 

“Ah !” exclaimed the unfortunate doctor, 
whose tears were mastering him. “This is 
a magnanimous deed, because you do not 


172 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


know what has driven me to this act.” 

“I do not wish to know,” said Pascal. 

“It would be generous of you to hear me; 
please listen to me. Your marriage, my 
dear friend, is the heaviest blow which 
destiny could have inflicted on me. The 
dream of my life is over.” 

“What!” because I am to marry Miss Ger- 
beau?” 

“Yes ! I intended to have given you a 
wife — my sister. You alone appear to me 
to be worthy of her. I thought in this way 
to have assured your happiness and hers. 
For more than fifteen years, I have wished 
this union to take place.” 

“And why did you not speak before ? By 
this time I would have had four children.” 

“I thought it best to wait.” 

“My dear friend, I have told you twenty 
times over that those, who wait till the pear 
ripens, never eat it. 

“You can crush me,” said the doctor, with 
a sigh. “I deserve it, but for heaven’s sake, 
do not scoff at me.” 

“I have never been more serious, replied 
Pascal : “but see the vanity of projects! 
You wished me for a husband to your sister. 
My mother had prepared an heiress forme; 
John Lantier had destined for me one of his 
daughters— such folly ! I am to marry, 


A CHANCE MARRI4.CE. 


173 


and it is by chance. You therefore see, my 
dear friend, that a man does not marry 
with premeditation.” 

Lorilleux was too much oppressed to re- 
ply, and Pascal continued: “Listen to me. 
Do you wish, would you like, once in your 
life, to perform a sensible action ? Accept 
at once, with your eyes closed, immediately, 
a proposal which I will make to you, and 
which will prove to you that I had already 
forgiven you.” 

“I am ready to do any thing you like.” 

“Lantier,” said Pascal, “wished to give 
me one of his daughters — the eldest — with 
a dowry of two hundred thousand francs. 
I assure you that she is a charming young 
lady; but Lantier did not speak to me about 
it till this morning, when it was too late, 
and I already love another. But to soothe 
the chagrin of this afflicted father, I have 
proposed to him another son-in-law, and 
that is you. You will suit him. Do you 
accept ? Agreed ?” 

“Allow me, at least, a few days to con- 
sider.” 

“Not a single hour. Yes or no, this in- 
stant.” 

Uncertain, desperate, almost crazy at 
having to decide on the spot so serious a 
matter, Lorilleux closed his eyes like a 


174 


A .CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


dazed traveler who suddenly sees at his 
feet a yawning abyss. What a trial for 
one, who had uniformly deliberated on his 
most indifferent actions, to decide so sud- 
denly on the most important act of his life ! 
Triumphing at length over the life-long 
habit, he said: “Be it so. I accept;” and 
added in a low voice: “The fortune of my 
wife will reflect on my sister.” 

“I can then apprise Lantier of this ?” 
asked Pascal. 

“Yes: I have always been unhappy; per- 
haps, through your mediation, good fortune 
will come to me.” 

“Ah! my friend, if a man wishes happiness 
to enter the house he must keep the* door 
open.” 

On the same evening, in order to prevent 
future occasion for regret, and against the 
advice of his father and even of Mr. Ger- 
beau, Pascal, after much hesitation, ven- 
tured to inform Miss Antoinette of all that 
had happened — the part played by the 
matrimonial agent and by the Chevalier 
de Jeuflas. 

The only answer given by Antoinette was 
to extend her hand, as, I -earnestly wish, 
dear reader, the woman you love will to 
you, when you have a like petition to pre- 
sent to her. 


A CHANCE MARK l ACE. 


175 


The Chevalier de Jeuflas, we may add, 
was not invited to the wedding, which took 
place two weeks later. 


CHAPTER XI. 


One month after their marriage the young 
pair had settled in a delightful house in the 
Champs-Elysees, fitted up, heaven only 
knows with what care, by John Lantier. 
He had become the father-in-law of Doctor 
Lorilleux. Mr. and Mrs. Divorne had re- 
turned to Lannion, charmed with their 
daughter-in-law; when one morning a gentle- 
man called on Pascal saying that he must 
speak to him. 

This visitor was dressed like a dandy, 
notwithstanding the morning hour. Over 
his blue dress-coat he wore a wadded light- 
colored over-coat lined with white satin; 
his gloves were a straw color; and, not to dis- 
arrange the marvelous order of his light 
hair, he held his hat in his hand. 

The servant at first thought that this 
stranger, so finely gotten up, had come from 
some ball and mistaken the house; but as 


176 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


the man persisted on the pretence of press- 
ing business, he concluded to introduce him 
into his master’s study. 

“Good morning, my dear son,” uttered 
the honeyed voice of Mr. de Saint Roch; “I 
wished to surprise you in your happiness. 
Will you, for this indiscretion, grant me 
pardon, which will be my only reward?” 

Pascal did not offer a seat to the matri- 
monial agent. 

“Well, client,” continued the negotiator, 
“should we not bless our friend? I have not 
deceived you, hey? Mr. Gerbeau has done 
handsomely, by Jove! Three hundred thou- 
sand francs!” 

“I am greatly pressed for time this morn- 
ing,” interrupted Pascal. 

“Mr. de Saint Roch sighed heavily, and 
muttered: “Ungrateful man, ungrateful 
man ! he forgets that I have been the means 
of his happy marriage.” 

4 ‘What is the matter?” inquired Pascal. 

“It is the least trifle,” replied the Agent. 
“We have a little contract between our- 
selves, you know — five per cent on the 
dowry. You have received three hundred 
thousand francs so that there are fifteen 
thousand francs coming to me. ” 

“And suppose that I refuse to pay?” asked 
Pascal, with a smile. 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 177 

“Oh!” said Mr. de Saint Roch, becoming 
pale under his vermilion, “what a jest, to 
haggle on your honor!” 

“But suppose that I do not jest ? What if 
I do haggle ?” asked Pascal. 

“We would then have a law-suit, and, 
though I regret to say it, I would surely 
gain it. You know that I have decisions in 
my—” 

“Enough, enough,” said Pascal: “Here, 
oh ! most disinterested of agents, here is 
your money !” 

“Ah, my son !” exclaimed the illustrious 
man, in a sweet, pathetic voice: “I did not 
expect a less acknowledgment from you. It 
is the debt of happiness which you dis- 
charge — ” 

Then catching sight of a little paper- 
weight on the desk, he said: “I will take 
this with me; this souvenir will be more 
precious to me than the bank-notes, which 
you have just handed to me. Am I not 
a second father to you ? In seeing this 
precious gift of — ” 

“Good-bye, dear Mr. de Saint Roch,” said 
Pascal, pushing his second father towards 
the door. The hierophant of Hymen’s 
Mysteries stopped, however, one moment at 
the threshold. “My dear son,” said he in a 
subdued voice: “God preserve you from the 


23 


178 


A CHANCE MARRIAGE. 


misfortune — but, if ever you lose your wife, 
remember my good offices, and reserve for 
me your patronage.” 

















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